Assessment of fibre orientation in ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete and its effect on flexural strength

Fibre distribution and orientation in a series of round panel specimens of ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) was investigated using electrical resistivity measurements and confirmed by X-ray CT imaging. By pouring specimens in different ways, the orientation of steel fibres was influenced and the sensitivity of the electrical resistivity technique was investigated. The round panels were tested in flexure and the results are discussed in relation to the observed orientation of fibres in the panels. It was found that the fibres tended to align perpendicular to the direction of flow. As a result, panels poured from the centre were significantly stronger than panels poured by other methods because the alignment of fibres led to more fibres bridging the radial cracks formed during mechanical testing.

Flexural performance of fibre reinforced concrete made with steel and synthetic fibres

The ductility of concrete made with commercially available steel and synthetic fibres has been investigated. Flexural stress–deflection relationships have been used to determine: flexural strength, flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength, and equivalent flexural strength ratio. The flexural toughness of concrete was found to increase considerably when steel and synthetic fibres were used. However, equal dosages of different fibres did not result in specimens with the same flexural toughness. Flexural toughness differences of almost 35 J existed even at the same fibre dosage. This also resulted in considerable differences in the minimum required ground supported slab thickness.

Coeliac disease-associated antibodies correlate with psoriasis activity

Antigliadin antibodies (AGA) have been reported in patients with psoriasis.

Re-analysis of microarray data reveals insights into altered transcriptional activity of TH17 and TReg signalling in psoriasis

Identifying differential expression of genes in psoriatic and healthy skin by microarray data analysis is a key approach to understand the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Analysis of more than one dataset to identify genes commonly upregulated reduces the likelihood of false positives and narrows down the possible signature genes. Genes controlling the critical balance between T helper 17 and regulatory T cells are of special interest in psoriasis. Our objectives were to identify genes that are consistently upregulated in lesional skin from three published microarray datasets. We carried out a reanalysis of gene expression data extracted from three experiments on samples from psoriatic and nonlesional skin using the same stringency threshold and software and further compared the expression levels of 92 genes related to the T helper 17 and regulatory T cell signaling pathways. We found 73 probe sets representing 57 genes commonly upregulated in lesional skin from all datasets. These included 26 probe sets representing 20 genes that have no previous link to the etiopathogenesis of psoriasis. These genes may represent novel therapeutic targets and surely need more rigorous experimental testing to be validated. Our analysis also identified 12 of 92 genes known to be related to the T helper 17 and regulatory T cell signaling pathways, and these were found to be differentially expressed in the lesional skin samples.