Human Tibial Cartilage Reveals Non-Linear and Non-Uniform Regional Topography Under Physiological Loading Rates

Author(s):  
Jessica M. Deneweth ◽  
Kelly E. Newman ◽  
Stephen M. Sylvia ◽  
Scott G. McLean ◽  
Ellen M. Arruda

Nearly 3% of individuals worldwide experience pain, immobility, and compromised quality of life due to knee osteoarthritis (OA)1. It has been widely accepted that joint mechanics play a critical role in the initiation and progression of knee OA2. A shift away from the normal joint motion, for example due to injury or malalignment, is believed to produce an abnormal pattern of cartilage loading that creates unusual and damaging stresses within the tissue. Accurate knowledge of cartilage’s normal mechanical response to physiological loading—and particularly the regional dependence of this response—is critical to successfully testing this theory. To our knowledge, little is known about the regionally-dependent mechanical response of healthy human tibial cartilage under physiological loading conditions. There is also a compelling need for more accurate cartilage data to be integrated into computational simulations of the knee joint. Hence, the purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to characterize the typical stress-strain response of tibial cartilage at 21 locations across the tibial plateau when subjected to loading representative of human walking, and 2) to demonstrate that these 21 sites can be reduced to a small number of regions displaying significantly different average moduli.

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1261-1267
Author(s):  
Ali Medabesh

The quality of public services and the yield of organizations are not limited to the financial investment and innovation solely. Human capital plays a critical role in the growth and excellence in institutions, but its contribution remains dependent on several factors. Its role is not limited on quantitative and qualitative accumulating, because it should be coherent and integrated in the development process. The theories of endogenous growth contributed to account for the disparity in levels of development between countries, by assuming that the extent of human capital response or inversely lack of responsiveness the economic system. This inaction is usually the prime cause of the deterioration of the quality of service and lack of satisfaction of the citizens, in addition of the lack of employee satisfaction about the circumstances of his work. Hence, arose the significance of several research about the mechanisms of reducing non-enthusiasm for the job or complacency professional and indifference. Staff of Jazan University has been chosen as a context of the empirical investigation of this study. The data has been collected using a well designed questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS program.


Author(s):  
Cordelia Estevez-Casellas ◽  
Mª Dolores Gómez-Medina ◽  
Esther Sitges

Emotional intelligence plays a critical role in adolescence since it involves a change towards psychological, social, and sexual maturity; a stage in which the foundations of intimate social relationships are established. Emotional competences regulate the quality of these relationships in adolescence and can provide protection against or facilitate the use of violence within them. Based on the above, this study aims to analyze the relationship between emotional intelligence and violence exercised, received, and perceived by adolescents in dating relationships. A sample of 254 subjects (43.1% men and 56.9% women) between 12 and 18 years old was analyzed through the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires of BarOn ICE:NA and Violence Exercised Perceived and Received by Adolescents VERA. The results of the research have shown that there is a significant and inverse relation between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and the violence exercised by adolescents in their dating relationships, and a positive and significant relation between emotional intelligence and the perception of violent behavior. For this reason, the importance of educating people about emotional intelligence from childhood within both the academic and family sphere is highlighted. This is fundamental to preventing the appearance of such violent behaviors and promoting an adequate adaptation to the environment.


Author(s):  
Chiu-Yueh Hsiao ◽  
Huei-Lan Lu ◽  
Yun-Fang Tsai

Background: Although caregivers are a crucial support in the recovery of patients with schizophrenia, little is known about how mutuality is related to health-related quality of life within the dyadic (patient and caregiver) context. This study aimed to investigate the dyadic relationship between mutuality and health-related quality of life in patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted with a sample of 133 dyads of patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired sample t-tests, Pearson’s product-moment correlations, and the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Results: Mutuality of patients was significantly higher than that of caregivers. Compared with caregivers, patients had significantly lower total scores for health-related quality of life. Patients’ and caregivers’ mutuality was related to their own health-related quality of life (actor effect) and their partners’ health-related quality of life (partner effect). Conclusion: Mutuality plays a critical role in health-related quality of life in dyads of patients with schizophrenia and caregivers. Viewing a dyad as a unit of nursing care reveals a promising approach for developing recovery-oriented modalities targeted at stimulating mutuality that may enhance health-related quality of life for both patients and caregivers.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 18-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Abbaschian

Materials science and engineering (MSE), as a field as well as a discipline, has expanded greatly in recent years and will continue to do so, most likely at an even faster pace. It is now well-accepted that materials are crucial to the national defense, to the quality of life, and to the economic security and competitiveness of the nation. Mankind has recognized the importance of manmade materials to the quality of life for many centuries. In many cases, the security and defense of tribes and nations have substantially depended on the availability of materials. It is not surprising that historical periods have been named after materials—the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc. The major requirements from materials in those days were their properties and performance. Today, in this age of advanced materials, the importance of materials to defense and quality of life has not changed. However, the critical role of materials has taken an additional dimension: it has become essential to enhancing industrial competitiveness.The knowledge base within MSE has also expanded vastly throughout these years and continues to do so at an increasing rate. We are constantly gaining a deeper understanding of the fundamental nature of materials, developing new ways to produce and shape them for applications extending from automobiles to supersonic airplanes, optoelectronic devices to supercomputers, hip implants to intraocular lenses, or from household appliances to gigantic structures. We are also learning that, in many of these applications, we need to depend on the combinations or composites of different classes of materials (metals, ceramic, polymers, and electronic materials) to enhance their properties.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 2268-2279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrique Vieira de Mendonça ◽  
Jean Pierre Henry Balbaud Ometto ◽  
Marcelo Henrique Otenio ◽  
Alberto José Delgado dos Reis ◽  
Isabel Paula Ramos Marques

Abstract New data on biogas production and treatment of cattle wastewater were registered using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket-anaerobic filter (UASB-AF) hybrid reactor under mesophilic temperature conditions (37 °C). The reactor was operated in semi-continuous mode with hydraulic retention times of 6, 5, 3 and 2 days and organic loading rates of 3.8, 4.6, 7.0 and 10.8 kg CODt m−3 d−1. Biogas volumes of 0.6–0.8 m3 m−3 d−1 (3.8–4.6 kg CODt m−3 d−1) and 1.2–1.4 m3 m−3 d−1 (7.0–10.8 kg CODt m−3 d−1), with methane concentrations between 69 and 75%, were attained. The removal of organic matter with values of 60–81% (CODt) and 51–75% (CODs) allowed methane yields of 0.155–0.183 m3 CH4 kg−1 CODt and 0.401–0.513 m3 CH4 kg−1 CODs to be obtained. Volatile solids were removed in 34 to 69%, with corresponding methane yields of 0.27 to 0.42 m3 CH4 kg−1 VSremoved. The good performance of the novel hybrid reactor was demonstrated by biogas outputs higher than reported previously in the literature, along with the quality of the gas obtained in the various experimental phases. The hybrid reactor investigated in this study presents comparative advantages, particularly in relation to conventional complete mixture units, considering economic factors such as energy consumption, reactor volume and installation area.


Author(s):  
John Gastil ◽  
Laura Black

The discipline of communication encompasses a broad spectrum of humanistic, interpretive, and social scientific approaches to studying public deliberation. Early work engaged Habermasian theories of the public sphere, and rhetorical scholarship has foregrounded the deliberative threads running back to the discipline’s earliest history in ancient Greece. The bulk of contemporary work, however, has examined the dynamics of deliberation, particularly in the context of face-to-face discussions and dialogues in small groups. These studies have revealed the importance of narrative and dialogic exchanges during deliberation, as well as the critical role of facilitation and the maintenance of deliberative norms. Research has also assessed the practical consequences of participating in deliberation. The discipline’s practical orientation has led some scholars to seek ways to optimize deliberative designs to maximize simultaneously the quality of their decision outputs and their civic impacts on participants.


Author(s):  
Martha Moreira Cavalcante Castro ◽  
Maíssa Andrade ◽  
Vanessa Xavier ◽  
Juliana Bonfim ◽  
Lilian Bastos ◽  
...  

The dysfunction of the lower urinary tract (DTUI) is an abnormal pattern of the urinary control with loss of coordinated capacity storage, stocking and elimination of urine. In order to assess the impact of lower urinary tract dysfunction in their child’s caregivers, this series was performed to evaluate 30 cases of caregivers of children with voiding disorders. Applied HAD scales and SF-36. Of these, 60% (n = 18) had anxiety symptoms and 43.3% (n = 13) depressive symptoms. Despite the scale items of quality of life was above average, the items pain, general health, vitality, emotional limitations and mental health measures were below the average. Thus, the effect of voiding dysfunction in parents of children affects the mood and quality of life in their daily lives.


Author(s):  
M. Alqurashi ◽  
J. Wang

In UAV mapping using direct geo-referencing, the formation of stochastic model generally takes into the account the different types of measurements required to estimate the 3D coordinates of the feature points. Such measurements include image tie point coordinate measurements, camera position measurements and camera orientation measurements. In the commonly used stochastic model, it is commonly assumed that all tie point measurements have the same variance. In fact, these assumptions are not always realistic and thus, can lead to biased 3D feature coordinates. Tie point measurements for different image feature objects may not have the same accuracy due to the facts that the geometric distribution of features, particularly their feature matching conditions are different. More importantly, the accuracies of the geo-referencing measurements should also be considered into the mapping process. In this paper, impacts of typical stochastic models on the UAV mapping are investigated. It has been demonstrated that the quality of the geo-referencing measurements plays a critical role in real-time UAV mapping scenarios.


Author(s):  
Shahzadi Mahmuda ◽  

Maternal health service had a potentially critical role in the improvement of reproductive health. This descriptive study was carried out in Tangail district, from 1st January to 31st December, 2019 to find out the quality of counselling of services for pregnant women in community clinics during pregnancy period. Data were collected among 289 respondents by face to face interview who had delivered within last 24 months and respondents were selected purposively. The majority (97.6%) of the respondents were housewife and maximum (72%) of the respondent were below SSC in this study monthly family income mean was taka 16124.00± 10065.480. Majority of the respondents (99.2%) had received antenatal check-up from different health care facilities and highest (87.2%) had received from the community clinic other hands (6.0%) pregnant women got antenatal care from non-government hospital among 250 respondents (94.0%) pregnant women received ANC from CHCP also (4%) pregnant women received ANC from HA. Out of 250 pregnant women (70%) of the respondents were problem suffer during pregnancy. Here majority (59.6%) pregnant women were suffer from nausea and vomiting and only (6.3%) were suffering from constipation. Majority (89.2%) of the respondents had preparation about danger sign during pregnancy. Most 245 (98%) of the respondents of pregnant women had information about ANC and most (85.7%) got information from CHCF on other hand ride got information (2.9%) from neighbour. half (4.8%) of the respondents choice of conduct delivery at upazila health complex followed by (48.8%) only choice of conduct clinics. Most (98%) of the respondents had received TT vaccine and maximum (95.1%) of the respondents had completed TT vaccine. Enough skilled manpower for patient care (98.4%). Health care provider perform ANC check-up (96.8%). Health care provider counselling during pregnancy (96.4%) physical examination (98.0%) explanation of health. (99.2%) health care provider give any advice before departure (70.4%). Continue to follow-up health status over phone (99.2%). Service providers in health care shows that 33.3% was BSc/BA, 42.9% of service providers were masters and above their professional training more than one third (38.1%) of the providers has basic training, 47.6% had basic & CSBA and rest 14.3% had ECT and nutritional training. Majority 100% of the provider’s designation had CHCP, number of staff in two health care had more than half (57.1%) providers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojiao Xu ◽  
Dingding Shen ◽  
Yining Gao ◽  
Qinming Zhou ◽  
You Ni ◽  
...  

AbstractAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease involving both upper and lower motor neurons, leading to paralysis and eventually death. Symptomatic treatments such as inhibition of salivation, alleviation of muscle cramps, and relief of spasticity and pain still play an important role in enhancing the quality of life. To date, riluzole and edaravone are the only two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of ALS in a few countries. While there is adequate consensus on the modest efficacy of riluzole, there are still open questions concerning the efficacy of edaravone in slowing the disease progression. Therefore, identification of novel therapeutic strategies is urgently needed. Impaired autophagic process plays a critical role in ALS pathogenesis. In this review, we focus on therapies modulating autophagy in the context of ALS. Furthermore, stem cell therapies, gene therapies, and newly-developed biomaterials have great potentials in alleviating neurodegeneration, which might halt the disease progression. In this review, we will summarize the current and prospective therapies for ALS.


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