The usability of recycled carbon fibres in short fibre thermoplastics: interfacial properties

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of combining discontinuous recycled carbon fibres with polypropylene, to produce a low-cost, high specific stiffness material for high-volume applications. The inherent low affinity of carbon fibre and polypropylene motivated a detailed study of the surface characteristics of carbon fibre and interfacial behaviour between the two materials, using the microbond test. The effects of removing the sizing from the fibres, as well as introducing a maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene coupling agent, were extensively investigated. Polypropylene was found to degrade when prepared under atmospheric conditions; therefore, it was necessary to form droplets under nitrogen. Removal of the sizing from the fibre using pyrolysis and solvolysis techniques altered the surface morphology of the fibre and increased the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) by 4 and 33 %, respectively. A more significant improvement in the fibre–matrix adhesion was achieved by adding a maleic anhydride coupling agent at 2 wt%, which increased the IFSS by 320 %

Effect of atorvastatin on C-reactive protein and benefits for cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: analyses from the Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Trial

CARDS was partially funded by Diabetes UK and the National Health Service Research and Development Forum (England)

Mouse models of neurodegenerative disease: preclinical imaging and neurovascular component.

Neurodegenerative diseases represent great challenges for basic science and clinical medicine because of their prevalence, pathologies, lack of mechanism-based treatments, and impacts on individuals. Translational research might contribute to the study of neurodegenerative diseases. The mouse has become a key model for studying disease mechanisms that might recapitulate in part some aspects of the corresponding human diseases. Neurode- generative disorders are very complicated and multifacto- rial. This has to be taken in account when testing drugs. Most of the drugs screening in mice are very di cult to be interpretated and often useless. Mouse models could be condiderated a ‘pathway models’, rather than as models for the whole complicated construct that makes a human disease. Non-invasive in vivo imaging in mice has gained increasing interest in preclinical research in the last years thanks to the availability of high-resolution single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), high eld Magnetic resonance, Optical Imaging scanners and of highly speci c contrast agents. Behavioral test are useful tool to characterize di erent ani- mal models of neurodegenerative pathology. Furthermore, many authors have observed vascular pathological features associated to the di erent neurodegenerative disorders. Aim of this review is to focus on the di erent existing animal models of neurodegenerative disorders, describe behavioral tests and preclinical imaging techniques used for diagnose and describe the vascular pathological features associated to these diseases

Evolution of Skull and Mandible Shape in Cats (Carnivora: Felidae)

The felid family consists of two major subgroups, the sabretoothed and the feline cats, to which all extant species belong, and are the most anatomically derived of all carnivores for predation on large prey with a precision killing bite. There has been much controversy and uncertainty about why the skulls and mandibles of sabretoothed and feline cats evolved to become so anatomically divergent, but previous models have focused on single characters and no unifying hypothesis of evolutionary shape changes has been formulated. Here I show that the shape of the skull and mandible in derived sabrecats occupy entirely different positions within overall morphospace from feline cats, and that the evolution of skull and mandible shape has followed very different paths in the two subgroups. When normalised for body-size differences, evolution of bite forces differ markedly in the two groups, and are much lower in derived sabrecats, and they show a significant relationship with size and cranial shape, whereas no such relationship is present in feline cats. Evolution of skull and mandible shape in modern cats has been governed by the need for uniform powerful biting irrespective of body size, whereas in sabrecats, shape evolution was governed by selective pressures for efficient predation with hypertrophied upper canines at high gape angles, and bite forces were secondary and became progressively weaker during sabrecat evolution. The current study emphasises combinations of new techniques for morphological shape analysis and biomechanical studies to formulate evolutionary hypotheses for difficult groups

Plakophilin-3 Is Required for Late Embryonic Amphibian Development, Exhibiting Roles in Ectodermal and Neural Tissues

The p120-catenin family has undergone a significant expansion during the evolution of vertebrates, resulting in varied functions that have yet to be discerned or fully characterized. Likewise, members of the plakophilins, a related catenin subfamily, are found throughout the cell with little known about their functions outside the desmosomal plaque. While the plakophilin-3 (Pkp3) knockout mouse resulted in skin defects, we find larger, including lethal effects following its depletion in Xenopus. Pkp3, unlike some other characterized catenins in amphibians, does not have significant maternal deposits of mRNA. However, during embryogenesis, two Pkp3 protein products whose temporal expression is partially complimentary become expressed. Only the smaller of these products is found in adult Xenopus tissues, with an expression pattern exhibiting distinctions as well as overlaps with those observed in mammalian studies. We determined that Xenopus Pkp3 depletion causes a skin fragility phenotype in keeping with the mouse knockout, but more novel, Xenopus tailbud embryos are hyposensitive to touch even in embryos lacking outward discernable phenotypes, and we additionally resolved disruptions in certain peripheral neural structures, altered establishment and migration of neural crest, and defects in ectodermal multiciliated cells. The use of two distinct morpholinos, as well as rescue approaches, indicated the specificity of these effects. Our results point to the requirement of Pkp3 in amphibian embryogenesis, with functional roles in a number of tissue types

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, inflammation and co-morbidity – a common inflammatory phenotype?

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is and will remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The severity of airflow obstruction is known to relate to overall health status and mortality. However, even allowing for common aetiological factors, a link has been identified between COPD and other systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis. COPD is known to be an inflammatory condition and neutrophil elastase has long been considered a significant mediator of the disease. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, in particular TNF-α (Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha), may be the driving force behind the disease process. However, the roles of inflammation and these pro-inflammatory cytokines may extend beyond the lungs and play a part in the systemic effects of the disease and associated co-morbidities. This article describes the mechanisms involved and proposes a common inflammatory TNF-α phenotype that may, in part, account for the associations

Diagnosis and management of glutaric aciduria type I – revised recommendations

Glutaric aciduria type I (synonym, glutaric acidemia type I) is a rare organic aciduria. Untreated patients characteristically develop dystonia during infancy resulting in a high morbidity and mortality. The neuropathological correlate is striatal injury which results from encephalopathic crises precipitated by infectious diseases, immunizations and surgery during a finite period of brain development, or develops insidiously without clinically apparent crises. Glutaric aciduria type I is caused by inherited deficiency of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase which is involved in the catabolic pathways of L-lysine, L-hydroxylysine and L-tryptophan. This defect gives rise to elevated glutaric acid, 3-hydroxyglutaric acid, glutaconic acid, and glutarylcarnitine which can be detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (organic acids) or tandem mass spectrometry (acylcarnitines). Glutaric aciduria type I is included in the panel of diseases that are identified by expanded newborn screening in some countries. It has been shown that in the majority of neonatally diagnosed patients striatal injury can be prevented by combined metabolic treatment. Metabolic treatment that includes a low lysine diet, carnitine supplementation and intensified emergency treatment during acute episodes of intercurrent illness should be introduced and monitored by an experienced interdisciplinary team. However, initiation of treatment after the onset of symptoms is generally not effective in preventing permanent damage. Secondary dystonia is often difficult to treat, and the efficacy of available drugs cannot be predicted precisely in individual patients. The major aim of this revision is to re-evaluate the previous diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations for patients with this disease and incorporate new research findings into the guideline

Recombinase technology: applications and possibilities

The use of recombinases for genomic engineering is no longer a new technology. In fact, this technology has entered its third decade since the initial discovery that recombinases function in heterologous systems (Sauer in Mol Cell Biol 7(6):2087–2096, 1987). The random insertion of a transgene into a plant genome by traditional methods generates unpredictable expression patterns. This feature of transgenesis makes screening for functional lines with predictable expression labor intensive and time consuming. Furthermore, an antibiotic resistance gene is often left in the final product and the potential escape of such resistance markers into the environment and their potential consumption raises consumer concern. The use of site-specific recombination technology in plant genome manipulation has been demonstrated to effectively resolve complex transgene insertions to single copy, remove unwanted DNA, and precisely insert DNA into known genomic target sites. Recombinases have also been demonstrated capable of site-specific recombination within non-nuclear targets, such as the plastid genome of tobacco. Here, we review multiple uses of site-specific recombination and their application toward plant genomic engineering. We also provide alternative strategies for the combined use of multiple site-specific recombinase systems for genome engineering to precisely insert transgenes into a pre-determined locus, and removal of unwanted selectable marker genes