An epidemiologic, clinical, and therapeutic study of childhood Guillain-Barré syndrome in Kuwait: is it related to the oral polio vaccine?

We studied Guillain-Barré syndrome, affecting children 12 years old or less, throughout Kuwait, in the period between January 1, 1992, and March 31, 1997. Nineteen children had the diagnostic criteria of Guillain-Barré syndrome, with an overall annual incidence rate of 0.95/100,000 population at risk. Female patients outnumbered male patients with a sex ratio of 1.4:1. There was a clustering of cases in winter and spring and in the year 1996. The disease symptoms were relatively severe in our patients because only 16% (3 of 19) of them were able to walk at the height of their illness, whereas the rest were bed or chair bound or needed assisted ventilation. Two patients had the electrodiagnostic features of axonal neuropathy and both had residual deficits on follow-up, whereas the rest recovered fully. All the patients received intravenous immunoglobulin. The mean time to walk unaided was 23.5 days (range, 2-84 days) after intravenous immunoglobulin and excluding the two patients with axonal neuropathy, and full recovery was achieved in a mean time of 103 days (range, 30-300 days). Contrary to previous studies, we found no correlation between oral polio vaccine administration and Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2 successive years (1995 and 1996) during a nationwide campaign targeting children less than 5 years old.     

Human-centered design of a wearable kinesthetic haptic device for surgical teleoperation

Artificial Life and Robotics - This paper describes the design and performance evaluation of a flexible wearable haptic device that aims to realize full kinesthetic haptic feedback for application...     

On-chip whole blood plasma separator based on microfiltration,sedimentation and wetting contrast

Miniaturized on-chip blood separators have a great value for point-of-care diagnosis. In our work, a combined design strategy—microfiltration, sedimentation in a retarded flow, and wetting contrast—was taken to overcome the known limitations of on-chip blood separators. Our microfluidic chip consists of a polydimethylsiloxane micropillar array and an etched glass with microchannel branches. The red blood cells are significantly slowed and gradually settled down due to micropillars and enlarged dimension of a chamber. An etched glass microchannel allows the extraction of blood plasma exclusively due to the capillary effect. The fabricated microfluidic device can separate blood plasma from a whole blood sample without any external driving force or dilution. The measured plasma separation efficiency was close to 100 % from human whole blood. Autonomous on-chip separation and collection of blood plasma was demonstrated.     

A356 Reinforced with Nanoparticles: Numerical Analysis of Mechanical Properties

Commercial casting Al-Si (A356)-based composites reinforced with different volume fractions of alumina (Al₂O₃) nanoparticulates (average particle size 50 nm) were synthesized in this study. Particle distribution, hardness, and tensile properties in the as-cast condition were experimentally investigated. The A356 alloy composite showed an increase in hardness, elastic modulus, and tensile strength compared with monolithic alloys. Finally, a combination of an artificial neural network and the finite element method (FEM) was implemented to predict the microstructure and mechanical properties including grain size, length of silicon rods, amount of porosity, hardness, tensile yield stress, ultimate tensile stress, and elongation percentage.     

Superior Tribological Properties of Particulate Aluminum Matrix Nano Composites

Aluminum is the best metal for producing metal matrix composites which are known as one of the most useful and high-tech composites in our world. Combining aluminum and nano Al₂O₃ particles will yield a material with high mechanical properties. Characterization of tribological properties revealed that the presence of nano particles significantly increased wear resistance of the composite. In case of unreinforced Al alloy, the depth of penetration is governed by the hardness of the specimen surface and applied load. But, in case of Al matrix composite, the depth of penetration of the harder asperities of hardened steel disk is primarily governed by the protruded hard ceramic reinforcement. The hard Al₂O₃ particles act as a protrusion over the matrix, carries a major portion of the applied load and protect the abrasives from penetration into the specimen surface.     

Evaluation of Fracture Mechanisms in Al-Si Metal Matrix Nanocomposites Produced by Three Methods of Gravity Sand Casting,Squeeze Casting and Compo Casting in Semi-Solid State

Silicon - Magnetic stirring is considered to be the most useful stirring method in semi-solid casting processes which doesn’t have the restrictions of the mechanical stirring. In this...     

Investigation on the morphological and mechanical properties of (polyamide 6)/(poly[styrene‐co‐acrylonitrile])/(poly[styrene‐b‐{ethylene‐co‐butylene}‐b‐styrene]) ternary blends

In this work, ternary polymer blends based on (polyamide 6)/(poly[styrene‐co‐acrylonitrile])/(poly[styrene‐b‐{ethylene‐co‐butylene}‐b‐styrene]) (SEBS) triblock copolymer and a varying concentration of the reactive (maleic anhydride)‐grafted SEBS were prepared by using a melt‐blending process. The effects of the material parameters (composition of ternary blends and SEBS/[{maleic anhydride}‐grafted SEBS] concentration ratio) and blending sequence on the morphological and mechanical properties of ternary blends were studied. Taguchi experimental design methodology was employed to design the experiments and select the material and processing parameters for the optimized mechanical properties. Tensile properties (Young's modulus and yield stress) and impact strength were considered as the response variables. It was demonstrated that there is a meaningful relationship between the composition of blends, processing parameters, observed phase structure, and obtained mechanical properties. The mechanical tests showed that the highest impact strength was achieved as the dispersion of the rubbery phase achieved an optimum size of about 1 μm. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 23:329–337, 2017. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Energy inputs and crop yield relationship in potato production in Hamadan province of Iran

The aim of this study was to determine energy consumption and the relationship between energy input and yield for potato production in Kaboud Rahang region of Hamadan state. The data used in this study are collected by questionnaire. The results revealed that nitrogen fertilizer (39%), diesel (21%), seed (14.9%), water (7.5%) and manure (6.4%) consumed the bulk of energy. In the surveyed farms, average yield and energy consumption were calculated as around 28613.7 kg/ha, 92296.3 MJ/ha, respectively. The results also showed that energy ratio, specific energy and energy productivity were 1.1, 3.2 MJ/kg and 0.3 kg/MJ, respectively. An econometric model was developed to estimate the impact of energy inputs on yield by using parametric methods. For this purpose, potato yield, an endogenous variable was assumed to be a function of energy inputs: fertilizer manure, chemical, machinery, human, water for irrigation, diesel and seed. The empirical results indicated that variables: fertilizer, chemical, seed and human were found statistically significant and contributed to yield. Among statistically significant exogenous variables, seed, water for irrigation, chemical, human and fertilizer were ranked in terms of elasticities.