Glucocorticoids and aging

In this review we analyze the morphologic changes, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functions, glucocorticoid (GC) receptors, and steroidogenic enzyme activities in both animals and humans during aging. In rodent studies, older animals tend to show: 1) hypertrophy of adrenal zona fasciculata (ZF) cells; 2) neuronal loss in the hypothalamic area; 3) loss of GC receptors in the hippocampus; 4) raised circulating adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and GC levels, and increased release of corticotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus; 5) reduced suppression of endogenous GC secretion after administration of dexamethasone; 6) decreased attenuation of response to chronic stress; and 7) increased activity of P450scc and 21-hydroxylase. According to the GC cascade hypothesis, stress and GCs facilitate the aging process in rats. Stress induces downregulation of GC receptors in the hippocampus, then impairs GC feedback on stress-induced HPA axis activation. Finally, an increase in the basal level of corticosterone and extended GC secretion following stress occurs. Because activation of the hippocampus decreases HPA axis function, the unrestrained elevation of GC concentration and the reduction in the level of GC receptors in the hippocampus may gradually weaken the feedback mechanisms and halt the response to stress. In humans, there are conflicting reports of HPA axis function during aging, so it is difficult to make a final conclusion regarding the relationship between aging and HPA axis function.     

An experimental study of the dynamics of the curing process of sheet molding compound (SMC) paste

The dynamic curing behavior of sheet molding compound (SMC) has been investigated by using a cylindrical cure reactor. Both thermal and mechanical responses were determined for R-25 SMC paste. The responses from this material were analyzed to determine the chemical and physical transformations that occur during the SMC molding process. The thermal response was obtained from a thermocouple placed along the centerline of the paste sample in the cure reactor. The thermal history at this location shows distinctive stages associated with heat transfer and crosslinking reactions during the cure cycle. The R-25 paste has a precure time of 160 seconds, a reaction time of 25 seconds, and a temperature rise of 134°C. The mechanical response describes the volume change and the pressure of the paste. The displacement curve shows volume changes due to thermal expansion, cure shrinkage, and thermal contraction during the course of a cure cycle. We found a less than 1% shrinkage during the reaction of the R-25 paste. The pressure response of the paste was found to parallel the volume transformation, although it also is strongly influenced by mechanical interactions between the press and the paste.     

Plumes of discolored water of volcanic origin and possible implications for algal communities. The case of the Home Reef eruption of 2006 (Tonga, Southwest Pacific Ocean)

The Home Reef volcano (Tonga, Southwest Pacific Ocean) erupted in August 2006. Initially a submarine eruption it quickly evolved into a subaerial event upon the formation of an ephemeral island.Remote sensing data from different sensors including MODIS, ASTER, EO-1 ALI and Landsat-7 ETM+ were used to analyze the event, focusing on the plumes of discolored water, ocean chlorophyll-a concentration (OCC) and sea surface temperature.An early classification system for the plumes was devised based on spectral properties and point of origin. Plumes originated at the volcano were named Type-I and those associated to the pumice rafts Type-II.Anomalies in ocean chlorophyll-a concentration, measured using MODIS data, were analyzed and a large bloom, presumably dominated by Trichodesmium sp. was identified. The bloom, which contributed to OCC values 17 times higher than the background, was spatially and temporally coincident with a Type-I plume of discolored water. The OCC increase appears to have been caused by a combined effect of both ocean fertilizations by the subsurface volcanic plume and rising sea surface temperatures.The Home Reef event offers a good candidate for a case of ocean enrichment by a submarine volcano and highlights the need for continuous monitoring of the eruptions even after the end of the explosive, more spectacular stages.     

Lossless image coding using adaptive, switching algorithm with automatic fuzzy context modelling

A switching adaptive predictor (SWAP) with automatic fuzzy context modelling is proposed for lossless image coding. Depending on the context of the coding pixel, the SWAP encoder switches between two predictors: the adaptive neural predictor (ANP) and the texture context matching (TCM) predictor. The ANP is known to perform well and gives small prediction errors except for pixels around edges. For areas with edges, TCM is used. To decide which is to be used, a switching criterion is proposed to pick out pixels around edges effectively. With the switching predictor structure, small prediction errors can be achieved in both slowly varying areas and edges. Furthermore, the use of the so-called fuzzy context clustering for prediction error refinement is proposed. The proposed compensation mechanism is proved to be very useful through experiments. It further improves the bit rates by, on average, 0.2 bpp in test images. The experiments also show that an average improvement of 0.3 and 0.05 bpp in first-order entropy can be achieved when the proposed switching predictor is compared with the gradient adjusted predictor and a six-order edge directed predictor, respectively. Moreover, the lossless image coder built upon the proposed algorithm also provides lower bit rates than the state-of-the-art context-based, adaptive, lossless image coding (CALIC) system and is comparable to that obtained by the highly complex two-pass coder called TMW     

Experimental and analytical procedures for flow dynamics of sheet molding compound (SMC) in compression molding

A package of procedures have been developed to collect and analyze the response of dynamic variables such as pressure, temperature, and mold separation during the compression molding of Sheet Molding Compound (SMC). From the dynamic responses, the molding process was found to consist of two regions: the flow and the subsequent curing reaction region. With an R-25 formulation and a mold closing rate of 30 mm/s, these two regions are well separated and the average flow time is not significantly affected by the maturation time for the material up to 30 days. Several mechanical parameters were estimated based on relatively simple flow models. The relationship between the press force, mold separation, and mold closing rate is found to be sensitive to the restrictions of the flow.     

Fast removal of Pb(II) and Cu(II) from contaminated water by groundwater treatment waste: impact of sorbent composition

ABSTRACT

A non-hazardous groundwater treatment waste (GWTW) was examined as a low-cost sorbent for Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions. The content of the dominant elements in GWTW was as follows: 78% Fe₂O₃, 7.4% P₂O₅, 7.4% CaO and 5.2% SiO₂. The removal of Pb(II) and Cu(II) was fast, and more than 67–95% of ions were accumulated by GWTW during the first 3 min. The sorption capacity of GWTW depends on solution pH, concentration and temperature. Equilibrium data fitted well with Langmuir–Freundlich and Langmuir-partition models. The inherently formed nano-adsorbent could be utilized for the treatment of water contaminated with Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions.     

Early development in males with Fragile X syndrome: a review of the literature

This article reviews the current bibliographic knowledge on early neurobehavioral development and milestones in Fragile X syndrome (FraX), with emphasis on males affected by the condition. Three broad areas of early development were examined: (1) gross and fine motor, (2) speech and language, and (3) social. The result of the current review indicates very limited information on the developmental milestones in all three areas. The scarce literature on motor development shows that in FraX there is an early developmental delay. Research on speech and language demonstrates pervasive deficits in conversational skills and severe developmental delay, with increasing discrepancy between language level and chronological age in young males with FraX. Finally, deficits in social development in FraX include abnormal gaze, approach and avoidance conflict, and high incidence of autistic spectrum disorders.     

Component-Based Derivation of a Parallel Stiff ODE Solver Implemented in a Cluster of Computers

A component-based methodological approach to derive distributed implementations of parallel ODE solvers is proposed. The proposal is based on the incorporation of explicit constructs for performance polymorphism into a methodology to derive group parallel programs of numerical methods from SPMD modules. These constructs enable the structuring of the derivation process into clearly defined steps, each one associated with a different type of optimization. The approach makes possible to obtain a flexible tuning of a parallel ODE solver for several execution contexts and applications. Following this methodological approach, a relevant parallel numerical scheme for solving stiff ODES has been optimized and implemented on a PC cluster. This numerical scheme is obtained from a Radau IIA Implicit Runge–Kutta method and exhibits a high degree of potential parallelism. Several numerical experiments have been performed by using several test problems with different structural characteristics. These experiments show satisfactory speedup results.     

6H hexagonal structure of low loss Ba3MTiWO9 (M = Mg, Zn) dielectrics

The crystal structure of Ba₃MTiWO₉ (M = Mg, Zn) oxides has been found to be 6H hexagonal, space group P6₃/mmc, parameters of unit cell: a = 5.7943(1) Å, c = 14.1642(1) Å and a = 5.7993(1) Å, c = 14.1626(1) Å for M = Mg and Zn, respectively. The tungsten and titanium atoms are randomly distributed in pairs of face-sharing octahedra separated by octahedral layers containing magnesium or zinc. It was revealed that the structures are well ordered which is believed to result in a low dielectric loss at a microwave frequency reported for these materials.     

Development of coloured glazes for tile applications using Taguchi's method

The development of coloured glazes produced for ceramic tiles is normally based on intuitive methods, where a lot of trials are usually necessary to obtain the desired colour.The aim of this paper was to propose a new approach to develop coloured glazes produced for tile applications using Taguchi's method. With this method, the best producing conditions can be achieved by an appropriate selection of the controlled factors – the pigments – and their levels – the quantities of the pigments – to obtain the desired colour and production costs were thus reduced.Two standard colours were selected under the conditions of the customer. The experience was planned and the results were treated according to the requirements described by Taguchi's method. The trials were selected by an orthogonal array of smaller resolution. Using Taguchi's method, the number of trials was substantially reduced; consequently the production costs and the loss to society also.