Feasibility of integrating canine olfaction with chemical and microbial profiling of urine to detect lethal prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the developed world. A more sensitive and specific detection strategy for lethal prostate cancer beyond serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) population screening is urgently needed. Diagnosis by canine olfaction, using dogs trained to detect cancer by smell, has been shown to be both specific and sensitive.

Structural analysis of a Petri net model of oxidative stress in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is a complex process of gathering sub-endothelial plaques decreasing lumen of the blood vessels. This disorder affects people of all ages, but its progression is asymptomatic for many years. It is regulated by many typical and atypical factors including the immune system response, a chronic kidney disease, a diet rich in lipids, a local inflammatory process and a local oxidative stress that is here one of the key factors.

Material properties of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene: Comparison of tension, compression, nanomechanics and microstructure across clinical formulations.

This is the first study to simultaneously measure material properties in tension, compression, nanoindentation as well as microstructure (crystallinity and lamellar level properties) across a wide variety of clinically relevant ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) formulations. Methodologies for the measurement of UHMWPE mechanical properties-namely elastic modulus, yield stress, yield strain, ultimate strength, energetic toughness, Poisson's ratio, hardness and constitutive variables-are evaluated. Engineering stress-strain behavior is compared to true stress-strain behavior for UHMWPE across a range of cross-linking and antioxidant chemistry.

Application of polymer-mesh device to remodel left ventricular-mitral valve apparatus in ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Objectives: Ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) results from ischemic left ventricular (LV) distortion and remodeling, which displaces the papillary muscles and tethers the mitral valve leaflets apically. The aim of this experimental study was to examine efficacy of an adjustable novel polymer filled mesh (poly-mesh) device to reverse LV remodeling and reduce IMR.

Methods: Acute (N = 8) and chronic (8 weeks; N = 5) sheep models of IMR were studied.

Corneal Cross-Linking With Verteporfin and Nonthermal Laser Therapy.

Purpose: To test whether verteporfin with a nonthermal laser increases corneal mechanical stiffness and resistance to enzymatic degradation ex vivo.

Methods: Thirty human corneas (n = 5 per group) were treated with verteporfin alone (V), irradiated with nonthermal laser therapy (689 nm) alone (NTL), or received combined treatment of verteporfin with nonthermal laser therapy for 1 sequence (V+NTL1) or 6 sequences (V+NTL6) of 1 minute of NTL exposure. Positive controls were pretreated with 0.

Holmes: a graphical tool for development, simulation and analysis of Petri net based models of complex biological systems.

Summary: Model development and its analysis is a fundamental step in systems biology. The theory of Petri nets offers a tool for such a task. Since the rapid development of computer science, a variety of tools for Petri nets emerged, offering various analytical algorithms.

Notch fatigue of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) used in total joint replacements.

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has remained the primary polymer used in hip, knee and shoulder replacements for over 50 years. Recent case studies have demonstrated that catastrophic fatigue fracture of the polymer can severely limit device lifetime and are often associated with stress concentration (notches) integrated into the design. This study evaluates the influence of notch geometry on the fatigue of three formulations of UHMWPE that are in use today.

Hemojuvelin-hepcidin axis modeled and analyzed using Petri nets.

Systems biology approach to investigate biological phenomena seems to be very promising because it is capable to capture one of the fundamental properties of living organisms, i.e. their inherent complexity.

Development of a scale for estimating procedural distress in the newborn intensive care unit: the Procedural Load Index.

Background: Infants in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) are exposed to routine procedures that often cause distress and carry a negative burden or load on the infant's neurodevelopment.

Aim: A ratio level index is introduced to estimate procedural load so as to begin to develop a system to monitor the intensity of distress associated with common NICU procedures.

Study Design: Two psychophysical methods, magnitude estimation (ME) and the general labeled magnitude scale (gLMS) were used to survey 86 clinicians via the internet to estimate the distress associated with 55 common NICU procedures.

Some aspects of the anemia of chronic disorders modeled and analyzed by petri net based approach.

Anemia of chronic disorders is a very important phenomenon and iron is a crucial factor of this complex process. To better understand this process and its influence on some other factors we have built a mathematical model of the human body iron homeostasis, which possibly most exactly would reflect the metabolism of iron in the case of anemia and inflammation. The model has been formulated in the language of Petri net theory, which allows for its simulation and precise analysis.

The long term behaviour of CFBC ash-water systems.

Circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) ashes in contact with water, whether in liquid or vapour form, exhibit considerable chemical activity, which can continue for more than a year. From the point of view of the setting of CFBC ash-water mixtures and their behaviour, the formation of gypsum and of ettringite are important. The crystallisation of ettringite is associated with expansion of the set mass and absorption of water into the solids, but the ash-water system as a whole shrinks.