Search results for "BRIC"
showing 10 items of 911 documents
Lubricin is expressed in chondrocytes derived from osteoarthritic cartilage encapsulated in poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate scaffold
2011
Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by degenerative changes within joints that involved quantitative and/or qualitative alterations of cartilage and synovial fluid lubricin, a mucinous glycoprotein secreted by synovial fibroblasts and chondrocytes. Modern therapeutic methods, including tissue-engineering techniques, have been used to treat mechanical damage of the articular cartilage but to date there is no specific and effective treatment. This study aimed at investigating lubricin immunohistochemical expression in cartilage explant from normal and OA patients and in cartilage constructions formed by Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) based hydrogels (PEG-DA) encapsulated OA chondrocytes. The e…
Relationship between specific serum IGE to Ascaris lumbricoides and onset of respiratory symptoms in Bangladesh immigrants
2006
The role of helminths in asthma and/or rhinitis and in allergic sensitization is still unclear. We assessed the relationship between Ascaris-specific IgE, respiratory symptoms and allergic sensitization in Bangladesh immigrants. 246 individuals were examined from 1996 to 2001. Serum total IgE, Ascaris IgE, specific IgE to inhalant allergens, skin prick tests (SPT) and parasitological evaluation of the stool were performed. Total serum IgE were significantly higher in Ascaris-IgE positive (> 0.35 kU/L) individuals (806.5 [409.0–1436.0] kU/L vs. 207.0 [127.0–332.5] kU/L; P < 0.0001) and in subjects with respiratory symptoms (413.0 [239.0–1096.0] kU/L vs. 259.5 [147.0–387.0] kU/L), ( P …
A rare case of abdominal cocoon.
2013
Abdominal cocoon is a rare cause of intestinal obstruction usually diagnosed incidentally at laparotomy. It manifests by forming a membrane that typically encases the small bowel loops, leading to mechanical obstruction. Preoperative diagnosis is difficult. The etiology of this condition is not well understood; however, it is a form of chronic irritation and inflammation.A 33 years old male, from Bangladesh, presented to our emergency department complaining of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. CT abdomen shows a picture of intestinal obstruction at the level of the small intestine. Intraoperative findings showed encapsulation of small bowel by a dense whitish membrane as a cocoon. Histo…
How Do Different Digital Displays Affect the Ocular Surface?
2020
Digital display use has been accepted as a contributing factor to dry eye disease. Nowadays, plenty of new models of digital displays have been developed, and the differences in their nature and the ways in which they are set and used may contribute to differences in the eye-related problems they cause.This study aimed to analyze the differences in ocular surface, tear film, and visual fatigue parameters after reading on different digital displays, with and without initial instillation of artificial tears.Thirty-one healthy individuals ranging in age from 20 to 26 years (mean ± standard deviation, 21.26 ± 1.73 years) were included in this prospective clinical study. Subjects' ocular surface…
On the complementarity of holistic and analytic approaches to performance assessment scoring.
2019
BACKGROUND A holistic approach to performance assessment recognizes the theoretical complexity of multifaceted critical thinking (CT), a key objective of higher education. However, issues related to reliability, interpretation, and use arise with this approach. AIMS AND METHOD Therefore, we take an analytic approach to scoring students' written responses on a performance assessment. We focus on the complementarity of holistic and analytic approaches and on whether theoretically developed analytical scoring rubrics can produce sub-scores that may measure the 'whole' performance in a holistic assessment. SAMPLE We use data from the Wind Turbines performance assessment, developed in the iPAL p…
Lipid hydrophobicity, physical state and distribution effects on the properties of emulsion-based edible films
2000
Abstract Addition of lipids to polysaccharide-based films is necessary to improve water vapor barrier properties but it leads to a decrease of mechanical properties. Model emulsified edible films mainly composed of methylcellulose (film-forming substance) and lipid mixtures (moisture barrier) were prepared. The effect of the physicochemical characteristics of the lipid phase (hydrophobicity and physical state) and of its distribution within the methylcellulose-matrix on the mechanical and water vapor barrier film properties was investigated. The nature of the lipid phase had little influence on mechanical properties of emulsified films, but had a substantial effect on the water vapor barrie…
Management of OH absorption in tellurite optical fibers and related supercontinuum generation
2013
Abstract We report the fabrication and the characterization of low OH content and low loss tellurite optical fibers. The influence of different methods of glass fabrication on fiber losses has been investigated. The use of the purest commercial raw materials can reduce the losses below 0.1 dB/m at 1.55 μm. Incorporation of fluoride ions into the tellurite glass matrix makes the optical fibers transparent up to 4 μm. A suspended core microstructured fiber has been fabricated and pumped by nanojoule-level femtosecond pulses, thus resulting in more than 2000-nm bandwidth supercontinuum after a few centimeters of propagation.
Influence of initial treatments of aluminium on the morphological features of electrochemically formed alumina membranes
2003
Abstract The fabrication of alumina membranes by electrochemical oxidation of annealed aluminium was investigated. Porous layers were grown in 0.4 M H3PO4 at −1 and 5 °C at different anodising times. The morphology of the outer surface was found to be dependent on temperature and charge density, with both determining the extent of chemical dissolution of the anodic oxide. The inner-surface morphology was found to depend on the applied voltage only. The chemical dissolution rate of anodic oxide grown on annealed aluminium was found to be lower than that formed on unannealed aluminium under otherwise identical conditions. Such a difference in behaviour is explained in terms of a higher finish…
Inkjet printing Ag nanoparticles for SERS hot spots
2018
A novel inkjet printing based approach is developed for the fabrication of a customizable platform on glass substrates allowing for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection of analytes up to single hot spots generated by the spontaneous aggregation of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in pL scale droplets. After drying the printed droplets under ambient conditions, trace amounts of the analyte can be detected by SERS given the proximity to NP hot spots. By employing alizarin (10-5M) as a model system and scaling the ink droplet volume from 1 nL to 10 pL, the absolute quantity of hot spots has been derived in the printed droplets allowing detecting up to a few molecules in proximity to i…