Review of post-process optical form metrology for industrial-grade metal additive manufactured parts

The scope of this review is to investigate the main post-process optical form measurement technologies available in industry today and to determine whether they are applicable to industrial-grade metal additive manufactured parts. An in-depth review of the operation of optical three-dimensional form measurement technologies applicable to metal additive manufacturing is presented, with a focus on their fundamental limitations. Looking into the future, some alternative candidate measurement technologies potentially applicable to metal additive manufacturing will be discussed, which either provide higher accuracy than currently available techniques but lack measurement volume, or inversely, which operate in the appropriate measurement volume but are not currently accurate enough to be used for industrial measurement

The FIELDS Instrument Suite for Solar Probe Plus: Measuring the Coronal Plasma and Magnetic Field, Plasma Waves and Turbulence, and Radio Signatures of Solar Transients.

NASA's Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission will make the first in situ measurements of the solar corona and the birthplace of the solar wind. The FIELDS instrument suite on SPP will make direct measurements of electric and magnetic fields, the properties of in situ plasma waves, electron density and temperature profiles, and interplanetary radio emissions, amongst other things. Here, we describe the scientific objectives targeted by the SPP/FIELDS instrument, the instrument design itself, and the instrument concept of operations and planned data products

Maternal bonding styles in smokers and non-smokers: a comparative study

BACKGROUND: Parental bonding has been implicated in smoking behavior, and the quality of maternal bonding (MB) has been associated with poor mental health and substance use. However, little is known about the association of MB and the smoking of the offspring. METHODS: In our study, 129 smokers and 610 non-smoker medical students completed the parental bonding instrument, which measures MB along two dimensions: care and overprotection. Four categories can be created by high and low scores on care and overprotection: optimal parenting (OP; high care/low overprotection); affectionless control (ALC; low care/high overprotection); affectionate constraint (AC; high care/high overprotection), and neglectful parenting (NP; low care/low overprotection). Nicotine dependence was assessed by the Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Test, exhaled CO level, and daily cigarette consumption (CPD). RESULTS: Higher CPD was significantly associated with lower overprotection (p = 0.016) and higher care (p = 0.023) scores. The odds for being a smoker were significantly higher in the neglectful maternal bonding style compared to the other rearing styles (p = 0.022). Besides, smokers showed significantly higher care and lower overprotection scores with the Mann-Whitney U-test than non-smokers, although these associations did not remain significant in multiple regression models. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that focusing on early life relationship between patient and mother can be important in psychotherapeutic interventions for smoking. Registration trials retrospectively registered

Polybrene Inhibits Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Proliferation during Lentiviral Transduction

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) can be engineered to express specific genes, either for their use in cell-based therapies or to track them in vivo over long periods of time. To obtain long-term expression of these genes, a lentivirus- or retrovirus-mediated cell transduction is often used. However, given that the efficiency with these viruses is typically low in primary cells, additives such as polybrene are always used for efficient viral transduction. Unfortunately, as presented here, exposure to polybrene alone at commonly used concentratons (1–8 µg/mL) negatively impacts hMSC proliferation in a dose-dependent manner as measured by CyQUANT, EdU incorporation, and cell cycle analysis. This inhibition of proliferation was observable in culture even 3 weeks after exposure. Culturing the cells in the presence of FGF-2, a potent mitogen, did not abrogate this negative effect of polybrene. In fact, the normally sharp increase in hMSC proliferation that occurs during the first days of exposure to FGF-2 was absent at 4 µg/mL or higher concentrations of polybrene. Similarly, the effect of stimulating cell proliferation under simulated hypoxic conditions was also decreased when cells were exposed to polybrene, though overall proliferation rates were higher. The negative influence of polybrene was, however, reduced when the cells were exposed to polybrene for a shorter period of time (6 hr vs 24 hr). Thus, careful evaluation should be done when using polybrene to aid in lentiviral transduction of human MSCs or other primary cells, especially when cell number is critical

Is the drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) due to human herpesvirus 6 infection or to allergy-mediated viral reactivation? Report of a case and literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DIHS) is a severe and rare systemic reaction triggered by a drug (usually an antiepileptic drug). We present a case of DISH and we review studies on the clinical features and treatment of DIHS, and on its pathogenesis in which two elements (Herpesvirus infection and the drug) interact with the immune system to trigger such a syndrome that can lead to death in about 20% of cases.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 26-year old woman with fever, systemic maculopapular rash, lymphadenopathy, hepatitis and eosinophilic leukocytosis. She had been treated with antibiotics that gave no benefit. She was taking escitalopram and lamotrigine for a bipolar disease 30 days before fever onset. Because the patient's general condition deteriorated, betamethasone and acyclovir were started. This treatment resulted in a mild improvement of symptoms. Steroids were rapidly tapered and this was followed with a relapse of fever and a worsening of laboratory parameters. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) DNA was positive as shown by PCR. Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DIHS) was diagnosed. Symptoms regressed on prednisone (at a dose of 50 mg/die) that was tapered very slowly. The patient recovered completely.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The search for rare causes of fever led to complete resolution of a very difficult case. As DIHS is a rare disease the most relevant issue is to suspect and include it in differential diagnosis of fevers of unknown origin. Once diagnosed, the therapy is easy (steroidal administration) and often successful. However our case strongly confirms that attention should be paid on the steroidal tapering that should be very slow to avoid a relapse.</p

No excess risk of colorectal cancer among alcoholics followed for up to 25 years

We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study among 179 398 Swedish patients hospitalised for alcoholism from 1970 to 1994, and found no excess risk for colorectal cancers, overall or at any anatomical subsite. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that alcohol intake is a risk factor for cancer of the large bowel.</p

A comprehensive transcriptome and immune-gene repertoire of the lepidopteran model host Galleria mellonella

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The larvae of the greater wax moth <it>Galleria mellonella </it>are increasingly used (i) as mini-hosts to study pathogenesis and virulence factors of prominent bacterial and fungal human pathogens, (ii) as a whole-animal high throughput infection system for testing pathogen mutant libraries, and (iii) as a reliable host model to evaluate the efficacy of antibiotics against human pathogens. In order to compensate for the lack of genomic information in <it>Galleria</it>, we subjected the transcriptome of different developmental stages and immune-challenged larvae to next generation sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We performed a <it>Galleria </it>transcriptome characterization on the Roche 454-FLX platform combined with traditional Sanger sequencing to obtain a comprehensive transcriptome. To maximize sequence diversity, we pooled RNA extracted from different developmental stages, larval tissues including hemocytes, and from immune-challenged larvae and normalized the cDNA pool. We generated a total of 789,105 pyrosequencing and 12,032 high-quality Sanger EST sequences which clustered into 18,690 contigs with an average length of 1,132 bases. Approximately 40% of the ESTs were significantly similar (<it>E </it>≤ e^-03) to proteins of other insects, of which 45% have a reported function. We identified a large number of genes encoding proteins with established functions in immunity related sensing of microbial signatures and signaling, as well as effector molecules such as antimicrobial peptides and inhibitors of microbial proteinases. In addition, we found genes known as mediators of melanization or contributing to stress responses. Using the transcriptomic data, we identified hemolymph peptides and proteins induced upon immune challenge by 2D-gelelectrophoresis combined with mass spectrometric analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Here, we have developed extensive transcriptomic resources for <it>Galleria</it>. The data obtained is rich in gene transcripts related to immunity, expanding remarkably our knowledge about immune and stress-inducible genes in <it>Galleria </it>and providing the complete sequences of genes whose primary structure have only partially been characterized using proteomic methods. The generated data provide for the first time access to the genetic architecture of immunity in this model host, allowing us to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying pathogen and parasite response and detailed analyses of both its immune responses against human pathogens, and its coevolution with entomopathogens.</p

Targeting ανβ3 and ανβ5 inhibits photon-induced hypermigration of malignant glioma cells

Sublethal photon irradiation was recently suspected to increase tumor cell motility and promote locoregional recurrence of disease. This study was set up to describe mechanisms underlying increased glioma cell migration through photon irradiation and to analyse the modifiability of photon-altered glioma cell motility by integrin inhibition