Methods for Removing Concrete Decks from Bridge Girders, TR-647, 2014

With ever tightening budgets and limitations of demolition equipment, states are looking for cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable methods for removing concrete decks from bridges. The goal of this research was to explore such methods. The research team conducted qualitative studies through a literature review, interviews, surveys, and workshops and performed small-scale trials and push-out tests (shear strength evaluations). Interviews with bridge owners and contractors indicated that concrete deck replacement was more economical than replacing an entire superstructure under the assumption that the salvaged superstructure has adequate remaining service life and capacity. Surveys and workshops provided insight into advantages and disadvantages of deck removal methods, information that was used to guide testing. Small-scale trials explored three promising deck removal methods: hydrodemolition, chemical splitting, and peeling

European guidelines for antifungal management in leukemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients: summary of the ECIL 3--2009 update.

In 2005, several groups, including the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, the European Organization for Treatment and Research of Cancer, the European Leukemia Net and the Immunocompromised Host Society created the European Conference on Infections in Leukemia (ECIL). The main goal of ECIL is to elaborate guidelines, or recommendations, for the management of infections in leukemia and stem cell transplant patients. The first sets of ECIL slides about the management of invasive fungal disease were made available on the web in 2006 and the papers were published in 2007. The third meeting of the group (ECIL 3) was held in September 2009 and the group updated its previous recommendations. The goal of this paper is to summarize the new proposals from ECIL 3, based on the results of studies published after the ECIL 2 meeting: (1) the prophylactic recommendations for hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients were formulated differently, by splitting the neutropenic and the GVHD phases and taking into account recent data on voriconazole; (2) micafungin was introduced as an alternative drug for empirical antifungal therapy; (3) although several studies were published on preemptive antifungal approaches in neutropenic patients, the group decided not to propose any recommendation, as the only randomized study comparing an empirical versus a preemptive approach showed a significant excess of fungal disease in the preemptive group.

Plasma PCSK9 concentrations during an oral fat load and after short term high-fat, high-fat high-protein and high-fructose diets.

BACKGROUND: PCSK9 (Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin Kexin type 9) is a circulating protein that promotes hypercholesterolemia by decreasing hepatic LDL receptor protein. Under non interventional conditions, its expression is driven by sterol response element binding protein 2 (SREBP2) and follows a diurnal rhythm synchronous with cholesterol synthesis. Plasma PCSK9 is associated to LDL-C and to a lesser extent plasma triglycerides and insulin resistance. We aimed to verify the effect on plasma PCSK9 concentrations of dietary interventions that affect these parameters. METHODS: We performed nutritional interventions in young healthy male volunteers and offspring of type 2 diabetic (OffT2D) patients that are more prone to develop insulin resistance, including: i) acute post-prandial hyperlipidemic challenge (n=10), ii) 4 days of high-fat (HF) or high-fat/high-protein (HFHP) (n=10), iii) 7 (HFruc1, n=16) or 6 (HFruc2, n=9) days of hypercaloric high-fructose diets. An acute oral fat load was also performed in two patients bearing the R104C-V114A loss-of-function (LOF) PCSK9 mutation. Plasma PCSK9 concentrations were measured by ELISA. For the HFruc1 study, intrahepatocellular (IHCL) and intramyocellular lipids were measured by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Hepatic and whole-body insulin sensitivity was assessed with a two-step hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp (0.3 and 1.0 mU.kg-1.min-1). FINDINGS: HF and HFHP short-term diets, as well as an acute hyperlipidemic oral load, did not significantly change PCSK9 concentrations. In addition, post-prandial plasma triglyceride excursion was not altered in two carriers of PCSK9 LOF mutation compared with non carriers. In contrast, hypercaloric 7-day HFruc1 diet increased plasma PCSK9 concentrations by 28% (p=0.05) in healthy volunteers and by 34% (p=0.001) in OffT2D patients. In another independent study, 6-day HFruc2 diet increased plasma PCSK9 levels by 93% (p<0.0001) in young healthy male volunteers. Spearman's correlations revealed that plasma PCSK9 concentrations upon 7-day HFruc1 diet were positively associated with plasma triglycerides (r=0.54, p=0.01) and IHCL (r=0.56, p=0.001), and inversely correlated with hepatic (r=0.54, p=0.014) and whole-body (r=-0.59, p=0.0065) insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma PCSK9 concentrations vary minimally in response to a short term high-fat diet and they are not accompanied with changes in cholesterolemia upon high-fructose diet. Short-term high-fructose intake increased plasma PCSK9 levels, independent on cholesterol synthesis, suggesting a regulation independent of SREBP-2. Upon this diet, PCSK9 is associated with insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis and plasma triglycerides.

Four years later: a clinical update on latanoprost.

PURPOSE: Almost five years have elapsed since the introduction of latanoprost on several markets and considering the large number of publications dealing with it, the authors felt that it was worth re-evaluating the drug. METHODS: The criterion used to select trials for inclusion in the review was: all articles mentioning the drug in common electronic data-bases; these were then screened and considered, on the basis of methodological quality. RESULTS: Experimental data suggest that latanoprost acts by remodeling the extracellular matrix in the ciliary muscle, thus increasing the flow of aqueous humor through the ciliary muscle bundles of the uveoscleral pathway. POAG: Latanoprost persistently improves the pulsatile ocular blood flow in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG). Recent trials confirmed the greater IOP-lowering efficacy of latanoprost vs. timolol, dorzolamide, brimonidine and unoprostone. Trials lasting up to 24 months showed that latanoprost is effective in long-term treatment of POAG and ocular hypertension (OH), with no signs of loss of efficacy when compared to timolol or dorzolamide. Latanoprost provides better control of circadian IOP. Non-responders to beta-blockers should preferably be switched to latanoprost monotherapy before a combination therapy is started. The possibility of a fixed combination of latanoprost and timolol has been explored, with promising results. NTG: Latanoprost is effective in normal tension glaucoma (NTG), lowering IOP, improving pulsatile ocular blood flow and increasing ocular perfusion pressure. OTHER GLAUCOMAS: Latanoprost may provide effective IOP control in angle-closure glaucoma after iridectomy, in pigmentary glaucoma, glaucoma after cataract extraction and steroid-induced glaucoma. However, latanoprost was effective in only a minority of pediatric cases of glaucoma and is contraindicated in all forms of uveitic glaucoma. SAFETY: In the articles reviewed, new or duration-related adverse events were reported.

Neutralizing antibodies in Multiple Sclerosis a model-based analysis of Interferon beta signaling pathway in macrophages

Multiple Sclerosis is the most common non-traumatic cause of neurologicaldisability in young people. There is no cure yet, and until recently, few long-termtherapies existed. Interferon beta (IFNβ) was the first treatment, and remains the mostcommonly prescribed. One of the most significant problems of IFNβ therapy is theproduction of drug specific antibodies. Up to 45% of patients develop neutralizingantibodies (NAbs) to IFNβ products. The neutralizing antibody binds to the biologicalagent preventing its interaction with its receptor, inhibiting the biological action of theprotein, which abrogates the clinical efficacy of IFNβ treatment. Interferon-betamediates its response by binding to its high affinity cell surface receptor and initiatingthe JAK/STAT signalling cascade. In this project we have analyzed the IFNβ signalingpathway in macrophages when neutralizing antibodies are present. The response tothis pathway after IFNβ stimulation shows a transient oscillatory rhythm of STAT1phosphorylation, which varies as NAbs concentration increases. To improve ourunderstanding of that behavior, we extended an existing mathematical model based onnonlinear ordinary differential equations of JAK/STAT pathway by including IFN-NAbassociation and IFN-activation receptor. Combining our theoretical model withexperimental data we could study the role of neutralizing antibodies on the molecularresponse and determine its lifetime after cytokine stimulation.

Kernel-based Mapping of Meteorological Fields in Complex Orography

Due to the advances in sensor networks and remote sensing technologies, the acquisition and storage rates of meteorological and climatological data increases every day and ask for novel and efficient processing algorithms. A fundamental problem of data analysis and modeling is the spatial prediction of meteorological variables in complex orography, which serves among others to extended climatological analyses, for the assimilation of data into numerical weather prediction models, for preparing inputs to hydrological models and for real time monitoring and short-term forecasting of weather.In this thesis, a new framework for spatial estimation is proposed by taking advantage of a class of algorithms emerging from the statistical learning theory. Nonparametric kernel-based methods for nonlinear data classification, regression and target detection, known as support vector machines (SVM), are adapted for mapping of meteorological variables in complex orography.With the advent of high resolution digital elevation models, the field of spatial prediction met new horizons. In fact, by exploiting image processing tools along with physical heuristics, an incredible number of terrain features which account for the topographic conditions at multiple spatial scales can be extracted. Such features are highly relevant for the mapping of meteorological variables because they control a considerable part of the spatial variability of meteorological fields in the complex Alpine orography. For instance, patterns of orographic rainfall, wind speed and cold air pools are known to be correlated with particular terrain forms, e.g. convex/concave surfaces and upwind sides of mountain slopes.Kernel-based methods are employed to learn the nonlinear statistical dependence which links the multidimensional space of geographical and topographic explanatory variables to the variable of interest, that is the wind speed as measured at the weather stations or the occurrence of orographic rainfall patterns as extracted from sequences of radar images. Compared to low dimensional models integrating only the geographical coordinates, the proposed framework opens a way to regionalize meteorological variables which are multidimensional in nature and rarely show spatial auto-correlation in the original space making the use of classical geostatistics tangled.The challenges which are explored during the thesis are manifolds. First, the complexity of models is optimized to impose appropriate smoothness properties and reduce the impact of noisy measurements. Secondly, a multiple kernel extension of SVM is considered to select the multiscale features which explain most of the spatial variability of wind speed. Then, SVM target detection methods are implemented to describe the orographic conditions which cause persistent and stationary rainfall patterns. Finally, the optimal splitting of the data is studied to estimate realistic performances and confidence intervals characterizing the uncertainty of predictions.The resulting maps of average wind speeds find applications within renewable resources assessment and opens a route to decrease the temporal scale of analysis to meet hydrological requirements. Furthermore, the maps depicting the susceptibility to orographic rainfall enhancement can be used to improve current radar-based quantitative precipitation estimation and forecasting systems and to generate stochastic ensembles of precipitation fields conditioned upon the orography.

Particulate matter exposure in cars is associated with cardiovascular effects in healthy young men

Exposure to fine airborne particulate matter (PM(2.5)) is associated with cardiovascular events and mortality in older and cardiac patients. Potential physiologic effects of in-vehicle, roadside, and ambient PM(2.5) were investigated in young, healthy, nonsmoking, male North Carolina Highway Patrol troopers. Nine troopers (age 23 to 30) were monitored on 4 successive days while working a 3 P.M. to midnight shift. Each patrol car was equipped with air-quality monitors. Blood was drawn 14 hours after each shift, and ambulatory monitors recorded the electrocardiogram throughout the shift and until the next morning. Data were analyzed using mixed models. In-vehicle PM(2.5) (average of 24 microg/m(3)) was associated with decreased lymphocytes (-11% per 10 microg/m(3)) and increased red blood cell indices (1% mean corpuscular volume), neutrophils (6%), C-reactive protein (32%), von Willebrand factor (12%), next-morning heart beat cycle length (6%), next-morning heart rate variability parameters, and ectopic beats throughout the recording (20%). Controlling for potential confounders had little impact on the effect estimates. The associations of these health endpoints with ambient and roadside PM(2.5) were smaller and less significant. The observations in these healthy young men suggest that in-vehicle exposure to PM(2.5) may cause pathophysiologic changes that involve inflammation, coagulation, and cardiac rhythm.

Uniform estimates in the Poincare-Aronszajn theorem on the separation of singularities of analytic functions

We study the possibility of splitting any bounded analytic function $f$ with singularities in a closed set $E\cup F$ as a sum of two bounded analytic functions with singularities in $E$ and $F$ respectively. We obtain some results under geometric restrictions on the sets $E$ and $F$ and we provide some examples showing the sharpness of the positive results.

Enhanced compressed sensing recovery with level set normals.

We propose a compressive sensing algorithm that exploits geometric properties of images to recover images of high quality from few measurements. The image reconstruction is done by iterating the two following steps: 1) estimation of normal vectors of the image level curves, and 2) reconstruction of an image fitting the normal vectors, the compressed sensing measurements, and the sparsity constraint. The proposed technique can naturally extend to nonlocal operators and graphs to exploit the repetitive nature of textured images to recover fine detail structures. In both cases, the problem is reduced to a series of convex minimization problems that can be efficiently solved with a combination of variable splitting and augmented Lagrangian methods, leading to fast and easy-to-code algorithms. Extended experiments show a clear improvement over related state-of-the-art algorithms in the quality of the reconstructed images and the robustness of the proposed method to noise, different kind of images, and reduced measurements.

El treball amb percussió corporal ajuda a millorar l'atenció i la concentració?

Diferents civilitzacions han basat les seves mostres culturals en el ritme i l’ús del cos com a instrument. Moltes són tradicions ancestrals, que passen de generació en generació, sense cap anotació musical. Per tant, aquestes danses, basades en la percussió corporal, tenen com a elements bàsics l’atenció i la memorització. Diversos professionals (K. Terry, J. Romero, S. Serratosa...) han defensat que la pràctica de la percussió corporal aporta beneficis a tots nivells: potenciació de l’autoestima, reconeixement i acceptació del propi cos... Són precisament aquests fets els que han convertit aquesta disciplina en una metodologia present a les aules de Primària. L’objectiu d’aquesta recerca segueix aquesta línia: comprovar si, a través del treball de la percussió corporal, els alumnes de cicle mitjà del centre La Monjoia milloren la seva capacitat d’atenció i memorització. Per avaluar-ho, s’usaran un test de percepció auditiva i un de percepció visual i els resultats es contrastaran amb l’opinió de diversos docents.

Com influencia la pràctica Dalcroze en l'estimulacio de les diferents capacitats dels infants

Aquest treball consta d’un procés d’investigació en el qual hi podem trobar la corroboració de la pregunta inicial sobre com influencia la pràctica Dalcroze en l’estimulació de les diferents capacitats dels infants. Aquest mètode consisteix en estimular la coordinació i la maduresa personal de l’infant i està basat en el moviment i la percepció del ritme. Basant-me en el què diuen alguns autors i pedagogs s’han comprovat les hipòtesis a partir d’una investigació. Per poder investigar aquest fet s’han realitzat una sèrie d’observacions de diferents sessions de música amb infants de tres a set anys de dues escoles diferents. En una de les escoles, en la qual s’ha estat investigant, els alumnes fan música a partir del mètode Dalcroze i a l’altre escola no. A partir de les observacions de totes les sessions de música s’ha analitzat i comparat les dues maneres de treballar la música i les capacitats que es poden desenvolupar treballant la música d’una manera vivencial i dinàmica. Per fer la part pràctica s’ha utilitzant una metodologia qualitativa la qual investiga si a partir de la rítmica Dalcroze es poden estimular les diferents capacitats dels infants. Les dades han estat recollides en una graella d’observació on hi ha transcrita cada una de les sessions de música de les dues escoles, també han estat recollides a partir de les gravacions de totes les sessions i dues entrevistes realitzades a les professores de música. A partir d’aquí ha començat el procés d’investigació i anàlisi.

Experiències poètiques de qualitat a la infància

La poesia és un gènere literari, massa sovint, oblidat a les escoles. No obstant, està demostrat que es pot treballar amb persones de totes les edats, des d’infants ben petits, fins a persones adultes, sempre i quan, les metodologies i les tècniques utilitzades siguin adequades als receptors. Aquest gènere no implica només comprensió del vocabulari i del missatge final, sinó també comporta gaudir del joc de les paraules, dels sons, de la melodia, del ritme... Es pot dir, doncs, que poesia i música, són dues arts que estan estretament relacionades. Quins elements provoquen que una experiència de poesia tingui qualitat? En primer lloc, el “què”, quin tipus de poesia oferim als infants. Així doncs, els podem proporcionar poesia escrita per a infants, però també poesia , en un inici, pensada per a adults. I és que el poema que és bo per a nens/es també ho és per a gent més gran, i a l’inrevés. A més a més, la poesia ha de ser rítmica, melòdica i que busqui constantment el joc sonor de les paraules. En segon lloc, el “qui”, és a dir, quines condicions ha de tenir la persona que escriu i recita poesia, per fer-ho amb la màxima qualitat possible. L’escriptor ha de ser una persona culta, amb un profund lligam artístic. No tothom serveix per a ser un bon escriptor, ja que comporta una gran tasca . Pel que fa a l’art de recitar, és una habilitat que tothom pot adquirir, amb pràctica, voluntat i constància. En tercer i últim lloc, el “com”, la metodologia adequada per presentar la poesia als infants. Aquest gènere literari s’ha de presentar de forma vivencial. El primer que han de fer els infants és estar en contacte amb la llengua i viure la poesia. Només així aprendran a estimar aquest gènere i a creure en ell i en les seves possibilitats.

Generation and nonlinear evolution of shore-oblique/transverse sand bars

The coupling between topography, waves and currents in the surf zone may selforganize to produce the formation of shore-transverse or shore-oblique sand bars on an otherwise alongshore uniform beach. In the absence of shore-parallel bars, this has been shown by previous studies of linear stability analysis, but is now extended to the finite-amplitude regime. To this end, a nonlinear model coupling wave transformation and breaking, a shallow-water equations solver, sediment transport and bed updating is developed. The sediment flux consists of a stirring factor multiplied by the depthaveraged current plus a downslope correction. It is found that the cross-shore profile of the ratio of stirring factor to water depth together with the wave incidence angle primarily determine the shape and the type of bars, either transverse or oblique to the shore. In the latter case, they can open an acute angle against the current (upcurrent oriented) or with the current (down-current oriented). At the initial stages of development, both the intensity of the instability which is responsible for the formation of the bars and the damping due to downslope transport grow at a similar rate with bar amplitude, the former being somewhat stronger. As bars keep on growing, their finite-amplitude shape either enhances downslope transport or weakens the instability mechanism so that an equilibrium between both opposing tendencies occurs, leading to a final saturated amplitude. The overall shape of the saturated bars in plan view is similar to that of the small-amplitude ones. However, the final spacings may be up to a factor of 2 larger and final celerities can also be about a factor of 2 smaller or larger. In the case of alongshore migrating bars, the asymmetry of the longshore sections, the lee being steeper than the stoss, is well reproduced. Complex dynamics with merging and splitting of individual bars sometimes occur. Finally, in the case of shore-normal incidence the rip currents in the troughs between the bars are jet-like while the onshore return flow is wider and weaker as is observed in nature.

Differential effects of GABAB receptor subtypes, {gamma}-hydroxybutyric Acid, and Baclofen on EEG activity and sleep regulation.

The role of GABA(B) receptors in sleep is still poorly understood. GHB (γ-hydroxybutyric acid) targets these receptors and is the only drug approved to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy. GABA(B) receptors are obligate dimers comprised of the GABA(B2) subunit and either one of the two GABA(B1) subunit isoforms, GABA(B1a) and GABA(B1b). To better understand the role of GABA(B) receptors in sleep regulation, we performed electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings in mice devoid of functional GABA(B) receptors (1(-/-) and 2(-/-)) or lacking one of the subunit 1 isoforms (1a(-/-) and 1b(-/-)). The distribution of sleep over the day was profoundly altered in 1(-/-) and 2(-/-) mice, suggesting a role for GABA(B) receptors in the circadian organization of sleep. Several other sleep and EEG phenotypes pointed to a more prominent role for GABA(B1a) compared with the GABA(B1b) isoform. Moreover, we found that GABA(B1a) protects against the spontaneous seizure activity observed in 1(-/-) and 2(-/-) mice. We also evaluated the effects of the GHB-prodrug GBL (γ-butyrolactone) and of baclofen (BAC), a high-affinity GABA(B) receptor agonist. Both drugs induced a state distinct from physiological sleep that was not observed in 1(-/-) and 2(-/-) mice. Subsequent sleep was not affected by GBL whereas BAC was followed by a delayed hypersomnia even in 1(-/-) and 2(-/-) mice. The differential effects of GBL and BAC might be attributed to differences in GABA(B)-receptor affinity. These results also indicate that all GBL effects are mediated through GABA(B) receptors, although these receptors do not seem to be involved in mediating the BAC-induced hypersomnia.

cGMP-dependent protein kinase type I is implicated in the regulation of the timing and quality of sleep and wakefulness.

Many effects of nitric oxide (NO) are mediated by the activation of guanylyl cyclases and subsequent production of the second messenger cyclic guanosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP). cGMP activates cGMP-dependent protein kinases (PRKGs), which can therefore be considered downstream effectors of NO signaling. Since NO is thought to be involved in the regulation of both sleep and circadian rhythms, we analyzed these two processes in mice deficient for cGMP-dependent protein kinase type I (PRKG1) in the brain. Prkg1 mutant mice showed a strikingly altered distribution of sleep and wakefulness over the 24 hours of a day as well as reductions in rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) duration and in non-REM sleep (NREMS) consolidation, and their ability to sustain waking episodes was compromised. Furthermore, they displayed a drastic decrease in electroencephalogram (EEG) power in the delta frequency range (1-4 Hz) under baseline conditions, which could be normalized after sleep deprivation. In line with the re-distribution of sleep and wakefulness, the analysis of wheel-running and drinking activity revealed more rest bouts during the activity phase and a higher percentage of daytime activity in mutant animals. No changes were observed in internal period length and phase-shifting properties of the circadian clock while chi-squared periodogram amplitude was significantly reduced, hinting at a less robust oscillator. These results indicate that PRKG1 might be involved in the stabilization and output strength of the circadian oscillator in mice. Moreover, PRKG1 deficiency results in an aberrant pattern, and consequently a reduced quality, of sleep and wakefulness, possibly due to a decreased wake-promoting output of the circadian system impinging upon sleep.