On the Part Quality, Process Parameters and In-Die Pressures in Indirect Squeeze Casting

Squeeze casting is a process that can produce the highest quality castings. In the current study, the effect of the process settings and the in-die conditions on rejection rates is studied through a full-scale experimental study. Factors affecting the as-cast part quality were investigated in the current study from two different viewpoints. The first part of the study was to investigate the influence of the process settings on the part rejection rate, and the second was to understand the conditions in the die and the effects on the part rejection rate to understand better the reasons and sensitivity of the squeeze casting process.

Rescue liver re-transplantation after graft loss due to severe rejection in the setting of pre-transplant nivolumab therapy

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) since 2017. The safety of ICIs in the setting of solid organ transplantation remains controversial. When used in the post-transplant setting, ICIs have been associated with high allograft rejection rates, but there are few published reports on the use of ICIs prior to transplant. We present the first reported case of rescue liver re-transplantation after loss of the first allograft due to severe acute rejection with extensive hepatic necrosis in the setting of pre-transplant ICI therapy with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab. It is likely that the durable immune response triggered by nivolumab contributes to graft rejection, therefore extreme caution should be taken when using ICIs before transplant until further investigation has been conducted on their safety in the pre-transplant setting.

Could diffuse coevolution explain the generic eggshell color of the brown-headed cowbird?

The brown-headed cowbird (hereafter cowbird) is an avian brood parasite that produces an egg dissimilar to those produced by the majority of its diverse host community. The cowbird’s generic egg may result from a Jack-of-all-trades strategy; however, the evolutionary mechanisms that select for their generic eggs are unclear. Here we propose that the cowbird’s eggshell phenotypes have evolved via diffuse coevolution, which results from community-level selective pressures, rather than via pairwise coevolution that occurs between a particular host species and its brood parasite. Under diffuse coevolution the cowbird’s host community, with varying eggshell phenotypes and recognition abilities, would select for a cowbird eggshell phenotype intermediate to those of its host community. This selection is exerted by hosts that reject cowbird eggs, rather than those that accept them; therefore, we expect cowbird eggshell colors can be approximated by both the phenotypes and rejection abilities of their host community. Here we use eggshell reflectance data from 43 host species to demonstrate that the cowbird eggshell phenotypes are reasonably predicted (within 2 just noticeable differences) by the eggshell phenotypes and rejection rates of their hosts. These findings suggest that cowbird eggshell phenotypes, and potentially those of other some generalist parasites, may evolve via diffuse coevolution. Importantly, this research provides insight into the underlying evolutionary processes that explain observed phenotypic variation and provides a framework for studying selection on both specialist and generalist parasites' traits.

Performance Measures of a Built Environment Multidisciplinary Research Journal: IJBES Metrics in a Review

An assessment of IJBES's performance since 2015 was presented in this communication using metrics data from Clarivate and the OJS Report Generator. Raw data were analyzed for the purpose of reporting to readers on the journal's performance using performance metrics available to the editor. Key performance metrics such as submissions, acceptance and rejection rates, and citation trends over time were reported and presented to the reader. It has been observed that ensuring balanced content and continuously working on a niche are among the priorities of the journal. It is also necessary to attract relevant and quality manuscripts among the authors to increase citations in other publications. Despite everything, the journal, which is relatively young, was able to withstand the initial test of time and improve its visibility in the scientific community.

Is Novelty Detection Important in Long-Term Odor Memory?

Memory for odors is believed to be longer-lasting than memory for visual stimuli, as is evidenced by flat forgetting curves. However, performance on memory tasks is typically weaker in olfaction than vision. Studies of odor memory that use forced-choice methods confound responses that are a result of a trace memory and responses that can be obtained through process of elimination. Moreover, odor memory is typically measured with common stimuli, which are more familiar and responses may be confounded by verbal memory, and measure memory in intentional learning conditions, which are ecologically questionable. Here we demonstrate the value of using tests of memory in which hit rate and correct rejection rate are evaluated separately (i.e., not using forced-choice methods) and uncommon stimuli are used. This study compared memory for common and uncommon odors and pictures that were learned either intentionally (Exp. 1) or incidentally (Exp. 2) and tested with either a forced-choice or a one-stimulus-at-a-time (“monadic”) recognition task after delays of 15 min, 48 h or 1 week. As expected, memory declined with delay in most conditions, but depended upon the particular measure of memory and was better for pictures than odors and for common than uncommon stimuli. For common odors, hit rates decreased with delay but correct rejection rates remained constant with delay. For common pictures, we found the opposite result, constant hit rates and decreased correct rejection rates. Our results support the ‘misfit theory of conscious olfactory perception’, which highlights the importance of the detection of novelty in olfactory memory and suggests that olfactory memory should be studied using more ecologically valid methods.

Multiple Adverse Drug Reactions to Calcineurin Inhibitors in a Renal Transplant Patient

Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) are typically used to prevent organ rejection and their use has significantly improved allograft and survival rates with a marked reduction in rejection rates. However, CNIs have been associated with various side effects including nephrotoxicity, hypertension, gingival hyperplasia, hypertrichosis, hepatotoxicity, hyperkalemia, and neurotoxicity. Significant intra-patient and interpatient pharmacokinetic variability and narrow therapeutic indices make the therapy complicated. Although CNIs are essential in preventing organ rejection, higher doses could lead to toxicity, which can reduce patient tolerability and negatively affect long-term allograft survival and patient mortality. As individual patients respond differently to comparable drug levels, attaining the optimal drug level range does not ensure lack of drug toxicity or complete immunosuppressant viability. One to two adverse effects are commonly observed in patients using CNIs. However, no case about CNI-induced gingival hyperplasia, hypertrichosis, tremors, facial nerve palsy, and blepharospasm after kidney transplantation in a single patient has been reported. Our report describes the unusual case of a patient presenting with CNI-induced multiple adverse reactions.

Spurious Relationships for Nearly Non-Stationary Series

Literature shows that the regression of independent and (nearly) nonstationary time series could result in spurious outcomes. In this paper, we conjecture that under some situations, the regression of two independent and nearly non-stationary series does not have any spurious problem at all. To check whether our conjecture holds, we set up several situations and conduct simulations to justify our conjecture. Our simulations show that under some situations, the chance that the regressions being spurious is very high for all the cases simulated in our paper. Nonetheless, under some other situations, our simulation shows that the rejection rates are much smaller than the 5% level of significance for all the cases simulated in our paper, implying that our conjecture could hold under some situations that regression of two independent and nearly non-stationary series does not have any spurious problem at all.