Background and aims: The aim of the study was to determine potential associations between endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness, measured by peripheral arterial tonometry, and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) assessed by computed tomography (CT). Methods and results: The BIG3 study is a prospective longitudinal, non-interventional, pulmonary-cardiovascular cohort study exploring the t

A non-destructive testing system requires multiple system configuration parameters during the operation process. For a given transducer, scanning frequency and number of measurements for averaging are just among those parameters. This work tests the central limit theorem to optimally set these parameters. The authors have designed a compact ultrasound computer tomography scanner from scratch just

Background: User involvement is a requirement of most research funders. There is a growing body of literature exploring the benefits and challenges of user involvement in research, but such studies are scarce in the field of aging and health. Moreover, the majority of such research is qualitative, which limits the generalizability of results. The UserAge panel study will be instrumental in expandi

We present next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak corrections to the dominant five angular coefficients parametrizing the Drell–Yan process in the Z-boson mass peak range for finite-pT vector boson production. The results are presented differentially in the vector boson transverse momentum. The Lam–Tung violating difference A- A2 is examined alongside the coefficients. A single lepton transverse

This study evaluated the suitability of the latest retrospective Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement V06 (IMERG) Final Run product with a relatively long period (beginning from June 2000) for drought monitoring over mainland China. First, the accuracy of IMERG was evaluated by using observed precipitation data from 807 meteorological stations at multiple temp

In Arabidopsis thaliana, winter is registered during vernalization through the temperature-dependent repression and epigenetic silencing of floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Natural Arabidopsis accessions show considerable variation in vernalization. However, which aspect of the FLC repression mechanism is most important for adaptation to different environments is unclear. By analysing FLC

The transitions between developmental stages are critical points in the Plasmodium life cycle. The development of Plasmodium in the livers of their mammalian hosts bridges malaria transmission and the onset of clinical symptoms elicited by red blood cell infection. The egress of Plasmodium parasites from the liver must be a carefully orchestrated process to ensure a successful switch to the blood

Aims/hypothesis: The risk of complications and medical consequences of type 2 diabetes are well known. Hospital costs have been identified as a key driver of total costs in studies of the economic burden of type 2 diabetes. Less evidence has been generated on the impact of individual diabetic complications on the overall societal burden. The objective of this study was to analyse costs of hospital

We study the adhesion and tensile behaviour of bi-layer interfaces comprising polyethylene, doped with carbonyl and hydroxyl functional groups emanating from ozone treatment, and - by means of density functional theory and classical atomistic modelling. The results show that the deformations are localized within the polymer and comprise chain slip, disentanglement and detachment from the substrate

In this paper, we propose a blind channel deconvolution method based on a sparse reconstruction framework exploiting a wideband dictionary under the (relatively weak) assumption that the transmitted signal may be assumed to be well modelled as a sum of sinusoids. Using a Toeplitz structured formulation of the received signal, we form an iterative blind deconvolution scheme, alternatively estimatin

The nitric oxide (NO) formation in methane (CH4) flames has been widely investigated, with quite a few kinetic mechanisms available in the literature. However, studies have shown that there are often discrepancies between the simulations using various mechanisms and the experimental results. To elucidate reactions leading to these discrepancies, experiments were designed to measure the NO formatio

Abstract: Thermoregulating microcapsules (MC) with flame-retardant properties were used to produce polyurethane (PU) foams. Thermogravimetric analyses of the microcapsules performed under atmospheric air and nitrogen confirmed that the hexa(methacryloylethylenedioxy) cyclotriphosphazene (PNC-HEMA) monomer raised the amount of residue after exposure to high temperature, proving the formation of a t

Hip fractures are a major health problem with high socio-economic costs. Subject-specific finite element (FE) models have been suggested to improve the fracture risk assessment, as compared to clinical tools based on areal bone mineral density, by adding an estimate of bone strength. Typically, such FE models are limited to estimate bone strength and possibly the fracture onset, but do not model t

We report on the status of efforts to improve the reinterpretation of searches and measurements at the LHC in terms of models for new physics, in the context of the LHC Reinterpretation Forum. We detail current experimental offerings in direct searches for new particles, measurements, technical implementations and Open Data, and provide a set of recommendations for further improving the presentati

In the set of commentaries on liquidity entitled “The continuing significance of social structure in liquid modernity,” three sets of authors set out to examine the relationship between liquidity and structure, value, and distinction. In doing so, they attempt to marry theories which argue against sociologist Zygmunt Bauman’s central thesis that societal structures are shifting with his seminal co

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive, multifaceted neurodegenerative disease associated with weight loss and gut problems. Under healthy conditions, tight junction (TJ) proteins maintain the intestinal barrier integrity preventing bacterial translocation from the intestinal lumen to the systemic circulation. Reduction of TJs expression in Parkinson’s disease patients has been linked with inc

Naturally occurring phyllosilicate minerals such as talc and vermiculite in conjunction with n-tetra butyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) co-catalyst were found to be efficient in the coupling of CO2 with epoxides to form cyclic carbonates. The reaction was carried out in a pressurized autoclave reactor at moderate pressures of 10–35 bars and temperatures of 100–150 °C. The optimized catalyst system exhi

We present vertical InAs/InGaAsSb/GaSb nanowire tunnel FETs (TFETs) on Si demonstrating subthreshold swing (S) of 32 mV/dec with ION = 4 µA/µm for IOFF = 1 nA/µm at VDS = 0.3V. The demonstrated drive currents is the highest reported for a TFET with S below 40 mV/dec resulting in a transconductance efficiency as high as 100 V-1. These results have been achieved by optimizing the source segment grow