Evolution of Material Properties and Residual Stress with Increasing Number of Passes in Aluminium Structure Printed via Additive Friction Stir Deposition.

Additive friction stir deposition (AFSD) is an emerging solid-state additive manufacturing process with a high deposition rate. Being a non-fusion additive manufacturing (AM) process, it significantly eliminates problems related to melting such as cracking or high residual stresses. Therefore, it is possible to process reactive materials or high-strength alloys with high susceptibility to cracking.

Graphene Oxide Significantly Modifies Cardiac Parameters and Coronary Endothelial Reactivity in Healthy and Hypertensive Rat Hearts .

Interactions of graphene oxide (GO) with an rat heart and its coronary vessels have not been studied yet. Moreover, the conflicting data on the "structure-properties" relationships do not allow for biomedical applications of GO. Herein, we study the impact of GO on the isolated rat heart, normotensive and hypertensive, under the working heart and the constant-pressure perfusion (Langendorff) regimes.

Recycled aluminium feedstock in metal additive manufacturing: A state of the art review.

Additive manufacturing has revolutionised the production of functional components and assemblies, offering a high degree of manufacturing flexibility. This review explores the latest advancements in additive manufacturing, focusing on its fusion-based and solid-state based technologies, and highlights the use of recycled aluminium as feedstock in these processes. The advantages and limitations of incorporating recycled materials are thoroughly analysed, considering factors such as material properties, sustainability, and process acceptance.

Stabilization of Graphene Oxide Dispersion in Plasma-like Isotonic Solution Containing Aggregating Concentrations of Bivalent Cations.

Unlabelled: Graphene oxide's (GO) intravascular applications and biocompatibility are not fully explored yet, although it has been proposed as an anticancer drug transporter, antibacterial factor or component of wearable devices. Bivalent cations and the number of particles' atom layers, as well as their structural oxygen content and pH of the dispersion, all affect the GO size, shape, dispersibility and biological effects. Bovine serum albumin (BSA), an important blood plasma protein, is expected to improve GO dispersion stability in physiological concentrations of the precipitating calcium and magnesium cations to enable effective and safe tissue perfusion.

Residual Stress Measurement Techniques for Metal Joints, Metallic Coatings and Components in the Railway Industry: A Review.

Manufacturing and maintenance procedures in the railway industry regularly implement welding and metal deposition operations to produce joints, coatings and repair structures. During these processes, residual stresses arise through the generation of heat affected zones and plastic deformation. This makes accurate measurements of the internal stresses a critical aspect of manufacturing, monitoring, repair and model validation in the develop new metallic coating and joining technologies.

Post-Weld Heat Treatment of API 5L X70 High Strength Low Alloy Steel Welds.

High Strength Low Alloy (HSLA) steels are the materials of choice in pipeline construction with the API X70 grade as the steel for the majority of pipeline networks constructed during the late 20th and early this century. This paper reports on the influence of Post-Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT) on the reduction of residual stresses, resulting changes in the microstructure, and mechanical properties of a multi-pass, X70 HSLA steel, weld joints made by a combined Modified Short Arc Welding (MSAW) and Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW) processes. Neutron diffraction results highlighted high magnitude of tensile residual stresses, in excess of yield strength of both parent and weld metal, in the as-welded specimen (~650 MPa), which were decreased substantially as a result of applying PWHT (~144 MPa).

Electrochemical Evaluation of the Compact and Nanotubular Oxide Layer Destruction under Ex Vivo Ti6Al4V ELI Transpedicular Screw Implantation.

Nano-engineered implants are a promising orthopedic implant modification enhancing bioactivity and integration. Despite the lack of destruction of an oxide layer confirmed in ex vivo and in vivo implantation, the testing of a microrupture of an anodic layer initiating immune-inflammatory reaction is still underexplored. The aim of this work was to form the compact and nanotubular oxide layer on the Ti6Al4V ELI transpedicular screws and electrochemical detection of layer microrupture after implantation ex vivo by the Magerl technique using scanning electron microscopy and highly sensitive electrochemical methods.

Energy-resolved neutron imaging options at a small angle neutron scattering instrument at the Australian Center for Neutron Scattering.

Energy-resolved neutron imaging experiments conducted on the Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) instrument, Bilby, demonstrate how the capabilities of this instrument can be enhanced by a relatively simple addition of a compact neutron counting detector. Together with possible SANS sample surveying and location of the region of interest, this instrument is attractive for many imaging applications. In particular, the combination of the cold spectrum of the neutron beam and its pulsed nature enables unique non-destructive studies of the internal structure for samples that are opaque to other more traditional techniques.

Critical deposition height for sustainable restoration via laser additive manufacturing.

Laser material deposition based restoration of high-value components can be a revolutionary technology in remanufacturing. The deposition process induces residual stresses due to thermomechanical behavior and metallurgical transformations. The presence of tensile residual stresses in the deposited layer will compromise the fatigue life of the restored component.

Analysis of Therapeutic Effectiveness of Selected Types of Collagen in Prevention and Treatment of Degenerative Joint Disease.

Loss of collagen is a natural development accompanying aging of the body. It may be additionally accelerated by various conditions, including osteoarthritis (OA). Within the last two decades numerous and diverse studies have been conducted worldwide with the aim of identifying substances containing collagen, producing therapeutic preparations of expected effectiveness in the prevention and therapy of OA that would be safe to use and developing methods of delivering the final product into the body.

PTPIP51 levels in glioblastoma cells depend on inhibition of the EGF-receptor.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) is upregulated in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and expression levels correlate with the grade of malignancy in gliomas. A similar correlation was reported for its interacting partner 14-3-3β, which has been shown to facilitate the interaction of PTPIP51 with cRAF (Raf1). Since the interaction of these signalling partners stimulates growth factor signalling downstream of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a major drug target in GBM, we here investigated the impact of EGFR inhibition by small molecule inhibitors or monoclonal antibody on PTPIP51.

The risk of atherosclerosis in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming a serious health problem; the number of people with impaired renal function is rapidly rising, especially in industrialized countries. A major complication of CKD is cardiovascular disease. Accelerated atherosclerosis has been observed in early stages of renal dysfunction.

Massage therapy in myofascial TMD pain management.

Myofascial pain located in the area of the head is a very common disease of the stomatognathic system. The fact that the mechanism of its development is very complex may cause a variety of problems in diagnosis and therapy. Patients diagnosed with this type of affliction usually need a variety of different therapies.

The sperm protamine mRNA ratio as a clinical parameter to estimate the fertilizing potential of men taking part in an ART programme.

Study Question: Could the protamine-1 to protamine-2 mRNA ratio serve as a biomarker to estimate the fertilizing capacity of sperm from men taking part in an IVF/ICSI programme?

Summary Answer: The protamine mRNA ratio clearly discriminates between fertile and subfertile men and sperm with a normal protamine mRNA ratio exhibit a higher fertilizing capacity in IVF/ICSI.

What Is Known Already: Aberrant sperm protamine ratios are associated with male factor infertility and mRNA ratio is comparable with protein ratio (due to transcriptional stop in elongating spermatids).

Study Design, Size, Duration: The study population was drawn from subfertile men, whose female partners participated in IVF or ICSI programmes between September 2010 and February 2012.

Halitosis--a common medical and social problem. A review on pathology, diagnosis and treatment.

Bad breath is a condition that has health and social implications. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the classification of halitosis, it's etiology, it's prevalence, diagnosis and treatment strategies for the condition. Halitosis is affecting about 25-30% of world's population.

Analysing the sperm epigenome: roles in early embryogenesis and assisted reproduction.

An understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in sperm production and their impact on the differentiating embryo is essential if we are to optimize fertilization and assisted reproduction techniques in the future. Male germ cells are unique in terms of size, robustness, and chromatin structure, which is highly condensed owing to the replacement of most histones by protamines. Analysis of sperm epigenetics requires specific techniques that enable the isolation of high quality chromatin and associated nucleic acids.

Evaluating the localization and DNA binding complexity of histones in mature sperm.

The paternal genome in many animal taxa is efficiently packaged into the sperm nucleus by switching from a histone (nucleosome)-based chromatin configuration to one using predominantly protamines. Nonetheless, various studies have shown that some nucleosomes, often containing modified histones are retained in mature sperm and bind DNA with distinct sequence compositions. Considering the significance of histone modifications in epigenetic phenomena and the fact that sperm histones and their bound DNA must be carried into the oocyte, this chapter describes methods aimed at examining and analysing the histone composition of sperm chromatin.

Genome wide identification of promoter binding sites for H4K12ac in human sperm and its relevance for early embryonic development.

Sperm chromatin reveals two characteristic features in that protamines are the predominant nuclear proteins and remaining histones are highly acetylated. Histone H4 acetylated at lysine 12 (H4K12ac) is localized in the post-acrosomal region, while protamine-1 is present within the whole nucleus. Chromatin immunoprecipitation in combination with promoter array analysis allowed genome-wide identification of H4K12ac binding sites.

Mixed testicular atrophy related to atherosclerosis: first lessons from the ApoE(-/-)/ LDL receptor(-/-) double knockout mouse model.

Age-related testicular changes are associated with declining spermatogenesis and testosterone levels. A relationship to atherosclerosis has never been investigated systematically. The ApoE(-/-)/LDL receptor(-/-) double knockout mouse model, providing a remarkable homology to human atherosclerosis, is an ideal tool to investigate spermatogenetic alterations in this context.

Presence of histone H3 acetylated at lysine 9 in male germ cells and its distribution pattern in the genome of human spermatozoa.

During spermatogenesis, approximately 85% of histones are replaced by protamines. The remaining histones have been proposed to carry essential marks for the establishment of epigenetic information in the offspring. The aim of the present study was to analyse the expression pattern of histone H3 acetylated at lysine 9 (H3K9ac) during normal and impaired spermatogenesis and the binding pattern of H3K9ac to selected genes within ejaculates.

Neutron diffraction residual strain measurements in nanostructured hydroxyapatite coatings for orthopaedic implants.

The failure of an orthopaedic implant can be initiated by residual strain inherent to the hydroxyapatite coating (HAC). Knowledge of the through-thickness residual strain profile in the thermally sprayed hydroxyapatite coating/substrate system is therefore important in the development of a new generation of orthopaedic implants. As the coating microstructure is complex, non-destructive characterization of residual strain, e.

PTPIP51, a positive modulator of the MAPK/Erk pathway, is upregulated in glioblastoma and interacts with 14-3-3β and PTP1B in situ.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and most malignant primary brain tumour. Protein tyrosine phosphatase interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) is an interaction partner of 14-3-3β, which correlates with the grade of malignancy in gliomas. In this study PTPIP51 and its interacting partners 14-3-3β, PTP1B, c-Src, Raf-1 as well as EGFR were investigated in human glioblastoma.

Shear stiffness in nanolaminar Ti3SiC2 challenges ab initio calculations.

Nanolaminates such as the M(n + 1)AX(n) (MAX) phases are a material class with ab initio derived elasticity tensors published for over 250 compounds. We have for the first time experimentally determined the full elasticity tensor of the archetype MAX phase, Ti(3)SiC(2), using polycrystalline samples and in situ neutron diffraction. The experimental elastic constants show extreme shear stiffness, with c(44) more than five times greater than expected for an isotropic material.

The interaction of modified histones with the bromodomain testis-specific (BRDT) gene and its mRNA level in sperm of fertile donors and subfertile men.

As histone modifications have been suggested to be involved in the regulation of gene expression after fertilisation, the present study aimed to analyze the interaction between the bromodomain testis-specific (BRDT) gene and differentially modified histones in human spermatozoa. The BRDT transcript level was studied to identify possible correlations between epigenetic changes, mRNA level and subfertility associated with impaired sperm chromatin condensation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was performed with ejaculates from fertile and subfertile men using antibodies against specifically acetylated and methylated histone H3.