Plasma fibroblast growth factor-23 levels are independently associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis in maintenance hemodialysis patients

Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) has been suggested to play a role in vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease. Common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) assessment and common carotid artery (CCA) plaque identification using ultrasound are well-recognized tools for identification and monitoring of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to test that elevated FGF-23 levels might be associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients. In this cross-sectional study, plasma FGF-23 concentrations were measured using a C-terminal human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Carotid artery intima-media thickness was measured and CCA plaques were identified by B-Mode Doppler ultrasound. One hundred twenty-eight maintenance HD patients (65 women and 63 men, mean age: 55.5 ± 13 years, mean HD vintage: 52 ± 10 months, all patients are on HD thrice a week) were involved. The mean CIMT were higher with increasing tertiles of plasma FGF-23 levels (0.66 ± 0.14 vs. 0.75 ± 0.05 vs. 0.86 ± 0.20 mm, P<0.0001). Log plasma FGF-23 were higher in patients with plaques in CCA than patients free of plaques (3.0 ± 0.17 vs. 2.7 ± 0.23, P<0.0001). Significant correlation was recorded between log plasma FGF-23 and CIMT (r=0,497, P=0.0001). In multiple regression analysis, a high log FGF-23 concentration was a significant independent risk factor of an increased CIMT. Further studies are needed to clarify whether an increased plasma FGF-23 level is a marker or a potential mechanism for atherosclerosis in patients with end-stage renal disease.     

The role of inhibitory processes in part-list cuing.

Providing a subset of studied items as retrieval cues can have detrimental effects on recall of the remaining items. In 2 experiments, the authors examined such part-list cuing impairment in a repeatedtesting situation. Participants studied exemplars from several semantic categories and were given 2 successive cued-recall tests separated by a distractor task of several minutes. Part-list cues were provided in the 1st test but not the 2nd. Noncue item recall was tested with the studied category cues (same probes) in the 1st test, but novel, unstudied retrieval cues (independent probes) in the 2nd test. The authors found detrimental effects of part-list cues in both the 1st (same-probe) test and the 2nd (independent-probe) test. These results show that part-list cuing impairment can be lasting and is not eliminated with independent probes. The findings support the view that the impairment was caused by retrieval inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Corrosion fatigue crack initiation and growth in 18 Ni maraging steel

Nucleation of fatigue cracks in air and 3.5 wt% NaCl solution has been studied in an 18 wt% Ni maraging steel. Specimens tested on reverse bending fatigue machine showed a marked decrease in fatigue strength of the steel in NaCl solution reducing the 10⁷ cycles endurance limit from 410 MPa in air to 120 MPa. Microscopic studies revealed crack initiation to be predominantly associated with non-metallic silicate inclusions in both cases. In air, initiation is caused by decohesion of the inclusion/matrix interface, while in NaCl solution complete detachment of inclusions from the matrix results due to the dissolution of the interface. 70% more inclusions are quantitatively shown to be associated with cracks in NaCl solution than in air at the same stress levels. Experimental and theoreticalS-N curves and inclusion cracking sensitivity data are consistent with the mechanism suggested. The final fracture occurs by the main crack consuming the inclusions ahead of it by the “unzipping” of the shear band produced between the crack tip and the inclusion ahead.     

The role of ceramic and glass science research in meeting societal challenges: Report from an NSF‐sponsored workshop

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. National Science Foundation, a workshop on emerging research opportunities in ceramic and glass science was held in September 2016. Reported here are proceedings of the workshop. The report details eight challenges identified through workshop discussions: Ceramic processing: Programmable design and assembly; The defect genome: Understanding, characterizing, and predicting defects across time and length scales; Functionalizing defects for unprecedented properties; Ceramic flatlands: Defining structure‐property relations in free‐standing, supported, and confined two‐dimensional ceramics; Ceramics in the extreme: Discovery and design strategies; Ceramics in the extreme: Behavior of multimaterial systems; Understanding and exploiting glasses and melts under extreme conditions; and Rational design of functional glasses guided by predictive modeling. It is anticipated that these challenges, once met, will promote basic understanding and ultimately enable advancements within multiple sectors, including energy, environment, manufacturing, security, and health care.     

Quantum Algorithms for Learning and Testing Juntas

In this article we develop quantum algorithms for learning and testing juntas, i.e. Boolean functions which depend only on an unknown set of k out of n input variables. Our aim is to develop efficient algorithms: (1) whose sample complexity has no dependence on n, the dimension of the domain the Boolean functions are defined over; (2) with no access to any classical or quantum membership (“black-box”) queries. Instead, our algorithms use only classical examples generated uniformly at random and fixed quantum superpositions of such classical examples; (3) which require only a few quantum examples but possibly many classical random examples (which are considered quite “cheap” relative to quantum examples). Our quantum algorithms are based on a subroutine FS which enables sampling according to the Fourier spectrum of f; the FS subroutine was used in earlier work of Bshouty and Jackson on quantum learning. Our results are as follows: (1) We give an algorithm for testing k-juntas to accuracy ε that uses O(k/ϵ) quantum examples. This improves on the number of examples used by the best known classical algorithm. (2) We establish the following lower bound: any FS-based k-junta testing algorithm requires queries. (3) We give an algorithm for learning k-juntas to accuracy ϵ that uses O(ϵ⁻¹ k log k) quantum examples and O(2 ^k log(1/ϵ)) random examples. We show that this learning algorithm is close to optimal by giving a related lower bound. Supported in part by NSF award CCF-0347282, by NSF award CCF-0523664, and by a Sloan Foundation Fellowship.     

High temperature-tolerant tomato lines: bioactive compounds

High global temperatures will be a great challenge for agricultural production in the near future. Therefore, adaptation of agricultural crops to the high temperatures or development of new heat-tolerant crops with known bioactive compounds is an important strategy for nutritional health and crop improvement programs. In this context, the bioactive compounds of newly developed high temperature-tolerant tomato lines were investigated in terms of lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds to assist breeders for the selection of high temperature tolerant tomato varieties with high nutritional quality. Nineteen tomato lines, including control varieties from the “Turkey F1 Hybrid vegetable variety and quality line development” project and the GAP Agricultural Research Institute, were selected for the investigation. Line 11 was superior in lycopene and β-carotene content, while line 18 was superior in ascorbic acid content as compared to control varieties Cansun F1 and Alsancak RN F1. Urfa 2012 and line 28 were found to have the highest numbers of phenolic compounds. Chlorogenic acid, naringenin, trans-ferulic acid and rutin were key phenolic compounds detected in each of the tomato lines. These newly released tomato lines can be used as value-added germplasm or parent sources to develop new heat-tolerant cultivars in breeding programs or as commercial cultivars for their superior functional qualities.