Analytical Method for the Bending Resistance of Slim Floor Beams with Asymmetric Double-T Steel Section under ISO Fire

The slim floor beams, characterized by the steel profile embedded in the concrete slab, may be found in different configurations, based on the shape of the steel profile cross-section, which can vary from a rectangular to double-T section. While the most common shape used nowadays is the double-T cross-section, the Eurocodes do not provide a simplified method for the fire resistance assessment. The literature offers a simplified method for computation of bending resistance under elevated temperature, based on existing research on thermal models, and was validated for a particular type of slim floor beams (SFB). The current study extends the scope of application of this method, for different types of slim floor beam, which include an asymmetric double-T steel cross-section. The objective was reached through a numerical procedure, by analyzing 162 configurations subjected to four different fire requirements (R30, R60, R90, R120), resulting in a total of 648 analyses, performed with a validated numerical model in SAFIR software. The results in terms of bending resistance showed that the simplified method represents a strong tool for the fire design of slim floor beams.

Topography of the location of mental foramen in dried edentulous human mandible and its clinical implication

The mental foramen is an oval or round opening on external surface of mandible and transmits mental nerve and vessels. Mostly located at apex of second mandibular premolar or between the apices of premolars. The study was commenced on 60 dried edentulous mandibles with the aim to determine location of mental foramen(MF) with reference to surrounding anatomical landmarks. By measuring its distance from midline (symphysis menti), posterior border of ramus of mandible, lower border of mandible. Length of lower border (Base) of mandible was also measured. In present study most common shape of mental foramen was round (70%). The mean distances of MF from midline are 24.36mm on right side and 24.15mm left side. From posterior border of ramus are 64.45mm on right side and 64.15mm on left side. From base of mandible are 12.29mm on right side and 12.48mm on left side. Length of base mandible (midline to angle of mandible) is 83.27mm right side and 83.12mm left side. Ratio of distance from symphysis menti to MF and length of base of mandible are same on both sides that are 0.29. There is statistically significant positive correlation between distance from symphysis menti to MF and length of base of mandible.The MF plays a very important role in treatment planning and its location needs to be considered prior to placement of dental-implants, regional anesthesia, osteotomy-surgeries and during complete denture-fabrication in order to avoid MN injury and related complications.

Morphometric study of nasal bones and piriform apertures in human skulls

The piriform aperture (PA) is the skeletal aperture located in the middle part of the face. There are many variations in morphometric measurements of nasal bones, piriform apertures and their shapes in different population. Objective of present study was to study morphological and morphometric features of nasal bone and piriform aperture. Adult human skulls available from collection of dried skulls were used for study purpose. Skull bones of unknown age and sex were obtained. Height, width of nasal bone, height, upper and lower width of piriform aperture, shapes of nasal bone and piriform aperture were observed. Height, upper width and lower width of piriform aperture were greater in male as compared to female. This difference was not statistically significant for upper width of piriform aperture (p=0.49) and for lower width of piriform aperture (p= 0.65) while the difference in height of piriform aperture was statistically significant. (p <0.0001).Differences in Height and width of nasal bone were not statistically significant among male and female nasal bones. Most common shape of nasal bone observed was Type A followed by Type B and C. Most common shape of piriform aperture was triangular to oval (50.00) in both the gender. Majority finding of the present study are in concordance with Indian population studies while significant differences have been noted in comparison to the morphometric measurements of Turkish, Korean, Brazilian and Anatolian population. These variations might be because of differences in ethnicity.

Spleen: an organ of multiple shapes

Introduction: The spleen is located in the upper part of the abdominal cavity. As an organ, the spleen can have various shapes and size. Material and methods: The human spleen was studied in 273 cadavers (154 men and 119 women) who did not have diseases of the spleen. The shape of the spleen was analyzed based on splenic index, Michels classification. Results: The most common shape of the spleen in men is the elongated one. It was encountered in 79 (51.3%) cases out of 154. In women, the most common shape was the intermediate. It was encountered in 51 (42.9%) of the 119 cases. Based on Michels classification the clinoid (wedge) shape was encountered in 102 (37.74%) cases, triangular in 59 (21.83%) and tetrahedral in 30 (11.1%). In 30.26% the shape of the spleen couldn’t be classified according to Michels classification. In 21 cases (7.77%) the spleen had a flat shape; in 27 (9.99%) – dome-shaped; in 1 case (0,37%) – Z-shape; in 18 (6.66%) – round shape; in 6 (2.22%) – irregular shape; in 2 (0.66%) - shape with a node in the hilum; in 1 (0,37%) – rhomboid shape, in 2 (0,74%) – bilobed shape and in 4 cases (1,48%) – lobular shape. The splenic fissures located on the upper edge of the organ were found in 81 (29.91%) cases, and also on the lower edge - in 41 (14.02%) cases. In 13 (4.67%) cases fissures were encountered on both sides. In 148 (51.4%) cases the spleen had no fissures on its surface. Conclusions: The spleen has various shapes beyond the classical wedge, triangular and tetrahedral. All of these shapes do not represent a pathological finding but in certain situation may require further analysis and interpretation depending on the imaging technique and experience of the physician.

Microplastics in Surface Sediments along the Montenegrin Coast, Adriatic Sea: Types, Occurrence, and Distribution

Considering that microplastics are widespread in the marine environment, in this study we evaluated the presence, identify distribution, abundance, shape type, and color of microplastics in surface sediment along the Montenegrin coast, on the Adriatic Sea. These preliminary results provide the first published record of microplastics found in the surface sediment of this area and highlight the importance of microplastics as a component of marine debris. We documented the presence of microplastics at all sampling locations. The identification of polymer types was performed using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, whereby the presence of three polymer types became evident: polypropylene (54.5%), polyethylene (9.7%), and acrylate copolymer (2.0%). Another 22.2% of particles were unidentified polymers, and the remaining 11.5% were non-synthetic materials. The most common shape type of microplastics was filaments (55.5%), followed by granules (26.3%), fragments (14.9%), and films (3.3%). The dominant colors of microplastics followed the order: blue > yellow > red > clear > black > green > blue-white > white. The average abundance of microplastics in all sampling locations was 609 pieces of microplastic/kg of dry sediment. Compared with other studies, the surface sediment of the Montenegrin coast is moderately to highly polluted with microplastics, depending on the examined location.

Morphometric study of human placenta and an insight into its vascular pattern by corrosion cast technique

: The placenta is a chorioallantoic, deciduate, haemochorial and villous organ. It is a vital organ which transfers vital nutrients from the mother to the foetus and removes waste products from the foetus to the mother. There has been paucity of literature regarding the morphometric study of human placenta and its vascular pattern (magisterial or dispersed) by corrosion cast technique. Therefore, the present study was conducted on morphometry and vascular pattern of the human placentae.: To do the morphological and morphometric study of placenta and to study the vascular pattern of placenta by corrosion cast technique. Study was done on 43 placentae and its morphometric study and vascular pattern were studied by corrosion cast technique.: Oval was the most common shape of placenta observed in the present study. Out of 43 placentae, 22(51.16%) had oval, 16(37.20%) placentae had round shape followed by triangular in 3(6.97%) placentae. Only 1 (2.32%) placenta each found to be irregular and multilobed. Most common shape recorded in complicated pregnancy was oval followed by round. Magisterial pattern was found in 13.95% of placenta and was associated with oval shape constituting 25.58% of placentae. Mixed pattern was seen in 18.60% placentae and was associated with oval placentae(23.25%). The disperse pattern was seen in 4.65% and was associated with oval and irregular placentae each constituting(2.32%).: The vascular cast preparation of placentae in our study will further help in contribution towards the understanding of the placental vasculature. An effort should be made for performing more studies on placentae of complicated pregnancies eg: hypertension and diabetes etc.

Simple Method for Cutoff Point Identification In Descriptive High-Throughput Biological Studies

Rapid development of high-throughput omics technologies generates an increasing interests in algorithms for cutoff point identification. Existing cutoff methods and tools identify cutoff points based on association of continuous variables with another variable, such as phenotype, disease state or treatment group. These approaches are not applicable for descriptive studies in which continuous variables are reported without known association with any biologically meaningful variables. The most common shape of the ranked distribution of continuous variables in high-throughput descriptive studies corresponds to a biphasic exponential/super-exponential curve, where the first phase includes big number of variables with values slowly growing with rank and the second phase includes smaller number of variables rapidly growing with rank. This study describes an easy algorithm to identify the boundary between these phases to be used as a cutoff point. The major assumption of that approach is that small number of variables with high values dominate biological system and determine its major processes and functions. This approach was tested on three different datasets: genes in the human cerebral cortex, mammalian genes sensitive to chemical exposures, and proteins expressed in human heart. In every case, the described cutoff identification method produced shortlists of variables (genes, proteins) highly relevant for dominant functions/pathways of the analyzed biological systems. Thus, our described method for cutoff identification may be used to prioritize variables for a focused functional analysis, in situations where other methods of dichotomization of data are inaccessible.

ANATOMICAL VARIATIONS IN LOBULUS AURICULAE, TRAGUS AND DARWIN'S TUBERCLE OF EXTERNAL EAR- A POPULATION STUDY

External ear is unique in its morphology. It is developed from the fusion of six auricular hillocks. Variations occur during the development which differ not only among populations but also within the population group. The present study was done on the people of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, to determine the variations in the shape, thickness and attachment of ear lobes, morphology of tragus and Darwin's tubercle. The photographs of 284 ears of 142 students (78girls, 64boys) were analyzed and compared. The most common shape of the tragus was found to be nodular in both males (right-76.8%; left-77.3%) and females (right-85.2, left- 86.7%), followed by elongated and the least common shape was triangular. Lobulus auriculae had arched shape as the commonest in both males (right-68.2%; left- 66.3%) and females (right-70.3%; left- 69.6%) followed by tongue shape and square shape. The least common was triangular. Most common form of Darwin's tubercle from the study was “elongated” in both males (right-68.4%; left-69.3%) and females (62.3%; 61.4%). These variations were bilateral showing variations in both right and left ears.

Assessment of the Position of the Mandibular Foramen and Mandibular Lingula in Children and Adolescents using CBCT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the position of the mandibular foramen and location and morphological characteristics of the mandibular lingula using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT).Mandibular CBCT images of children aged 6 - 16 years were collected. A total of 180 patients were divided into 3 groups, 6 - 7, 10 - 11 and 15 - 16 years, with 30 male and female patients per group. Either side of the ramus was analyzed. The shortest distances from the anterior, posterior, superior and inferior border of the ramus to the mandibular lingula were measured. The shortest distance between the mandibular lingula and the mandibular foramen was also measured. The vertical distance from the mandibular lingula and the mandibular foramen to the occlusal plane was measured. The shapes of the mandibular lingula was classified into 4 types according to the criteria.The distances of the mandibular lingula from the anteroposterior and vertical reference points of the ramus increased in all directions with age. The distance between the mandibular lingula and the mandibular foramen also increased with age. The location of the mandibular lingula and the mandibular foramen in relation to the occlusal plane moved upwards with age. The most common shape of the mandibular lingula was triangular, followed by nodular, truncated and assimilated, and there was no difference in the shape according to age.It is recommended that the horizontal insertion point of the anesthesia from the anterior border of the ramus increased to 17 mm, 18 mm, and 19 mm according to the age groups. It is also suggested that the vertical insertion point increased by 2 - 3 mm, 5 - 6 mm and 9 - 10 mm above the occlusal plane according to the age groups.