Casting of metallic glasses (MG) sometimes induces surface crystallisation despite the fact that the surface is expected to be the region where the cooling rate is the highest. This phenomenon has been observed on various MG, even for those with large critical diameters. Such surface crystallisation can be detrimental when the target applications are focused on surface properties, such as corrosion resistance for biomedical applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimer's disease and other types of dementia are the top cause for disabilities in later life and various types of experiments have been performed to understand the underlying mechanisms of the disease with the aim of coming up with potential drug targets. These experiments have been carried out by scientists working in different domains such as proteomics, molecular biology, clinical diagnostics and genomics. The results of such experiments are stored in the databases designed for collecting data of similar types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain diseases such as autism and Alzheimer's disease (each inflicting >1% of the world population) involve a large network of genes displaying subtle changes in their expression. Abnormalities in intraneuronal transport have been linked to genetic risk factors found in patients, suggesting the relevance of measuring this key biological process. However, current techniques are not sensitive enough to detect minor abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEach year, millions of people worldwide are treated for primary or recurrent pelvic malignancies, involving radiotherapy in almost 50% of cases. Delayed development of visceral complications after radiotherapy is recognized in cancer survivors. Therapeutic doses of radiation may lead to the damage of healthy tissue around the tumor and abdominal pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe phenomenon of supercooling in metals-that is, the preservation of a disordered, fluid phase in a metastable state well below the melting point-has led to speculation that local atomic structure configurations of dense, symmetric, but non-periodic packing act as the main barrier for crystal nucleation. For liquids in contact with solids, crystalline surfaces induce layering of the adjacent atoms in the liquid and may prevent or lower supercooling. This seed effect is supposed to depend on the local lateral order adopted in the last atomic layers of the liquid in contact with the crystal.
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