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The aim of this paper is to design a novel asphalt mixture capable of reducing tyre/pavement interaction noise for urban roads at speeds around 50 km/h. To this end, various mechanical and functional tests were carried out both in the laboratory and on a real road in the city of Florence. The asphalt mixture developed improves the noise reduction properties without compromising its mechanical performance or neglecting its rolling and skid resistance. To this end, various mechanical tests were carried out in the laboratory, including water sensitivity or wheel tracking tests, as well as functional tests relating to texture, flow resistance and sound absorption. Full-scale measurements were carried out using the CPX method. The result of the study was a novel asphalt mixture that reduced noise by 3 dB compared to a conventional road.

Endogenous DNA damage is causally associated with the functional decline and transformation of stem cells that characterize aging. DNA lesions that have escaped DNA repair can induce replication stress and genomic breaks that induce senescence and apoptosis. It is not clear how stem and proliferating cells cope with accumulating endogenous DNA lesions and how these ultimately affect the physiology of cells and tissues. Here we have addressed these questions by investigating the hematopoietic system of mice deficient for Rev1, a core factor in DNA translesion synthesis (TLS), the postreplicative bypass of damaged nucleotides. Rev1hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells displayed compromised proliferation, and replication stress that could be rescued with an antioxidant. The additional disruption of Xpc, essential for global-genome nucleotide excision repair (ggNER) of helix-distorting nucleotide lesions, resulted in the perinatal loss of hematopoietic stem cells, progressive loss of bone marrow, and fatal aplastic anemia between 3 and 4 months of age. This was associated with replication stress, genomic breaks, DNA damage signaling, senescence, and apoptosis in bone marrow. Surprisingly, the collapse of the Rev1Xpcbone marrow was associated with progressive mitochondrial dysfunction and consequent exacerbation of oxidative stress. These data reveal that, to protect its genomic and functional integrity, the hematopoietic system critically depends on the combined activities of repair and replication of helix-distorting oxidative nucleotide lesions by ggNER and Rev1-dependent TLS, respectively. The error-prone nature of TLS may provide mechanistic understanding of the accumulation of mutations in the hematopoietic system upon aging.

Endogenous DNA damage is causally associated with the functional decline and transformation of stem cells that characterize aging. DNA lesions that have escaped DNA repair can induce replication stress and genomic breaks that induce senescence and apoptosis. It is not clear how stem and proliferating cells cope with accumulating endogenous DNA lesions and how these ultimately affect the physiology of cells and tissues. Here we have addressed these questions by investigating the hematopoietic system of mice deficient for Rev1, a core factor in DNA translesion synthesis (TLS), the postreplicative bypass of damaged nucleotides. Rev1 hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells displayed compromised proliferation, and replication stress that could be rescued with an antioxidant. The additional disruption of Xpc, essential for global-genome nucleotide excision repair (ggNER) of helix-distorting nucleotide lesions, resulted in the perinatal loss of hematopoietic stem cells, progressive loss of bone marrow, and fatal aplastic anemia between 3 and 4 months of age. This was associated with replication stress, genomic breaks, DNA damage signaling, senescence, and apoptosis in bone marrow. Surprisingly, the collapse of the Rev1Xpc bone marrow was associated with progressive mitochondrial dysfunction and consequent exacerbation of oxidative stress. These data reveal that, to protect its genomic and functional integrity, the hematopoietic system critically depends on the combined activities of repair and replication of helix-distorting oxidative nucleotide lesions by ggNER and Rev1-dependent TLS, respectively. The error-prone nature of TLS may provide mechanistic understanding of the accumulation of mutations in the hematopoietic system upon aging.

Objectives: The Scheme for Appraisal of Emotional Development (SAED, Došen, 1997) is intended to evaluate the emotional development of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID), especially those with co-occurring problem behaviour. In 2012, The Scheme for Appraisal of Emotional Development-revised (SED-R) was developed in Dutch, based on the SAED. This paper aims at providing a description of the SED-R, its development, and results from an inter-rater reliability study.Methods: The study was carried out in services that support persons with ID in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. For each client, the SED-R was administered twice with the same informants by two different trained interviewers at different points in time, with a 1-week minimum and 3-week maximum between assessments 1 and 2. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was calculated in order to estimate the internal consistency. The degree of agreement between the scores of the assessment pairs at time 1 and time 2 (which could be regarded as test-retest reliability) was expressed in Spearman’s rho. For the extent of inter-rater agreement, the intraclass correlations coefficient (ICC) was applied.Results: The reliability results indicate that the SED-R generally shows a high internal consistency. The total and average score of the SED-R show a substantial inter-rater reliability. Ten out of 13 domains show moderate to substantial inter-rater reliability.Conclusion: The results are discussed in relation to four notions: robustness, utility, understanding, and relevance. It is necessary to generate more knowledge with regard to the validity, reliability and applicability of the SED-R, warranting further research.

In this paper, we consider a hybrid system consisting of a motion stage that exhibits, from a control point-of-view, position-dependent dynamics as a result of varying sensor configurations. A scheduled controller design is proposed that is intuitive for control engineers as all individual filters can be obtained using classical frequency-domain loop-shaping techniques thereby connecting to the industrial motion control practice. Moreover, data-based graphical conditions are provided in the frequency-domain under which closed-loop stability can be verified irrespective of how the switching between the controllers occurs in time. The effectiveness of the proposed scheduling technique, as a way to improve both transient and steady-state performance compared to the current state-of-the-art industrial control solution, is demonstrated by means of experiments on a high-precision industrial motion stage.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has presented itself as one of the most important health concerns of the 2020’s, and hit the geriatric population the hardest. The presence of co-morbidities and immune ageing in the elderly lead to an increased susceptibility to COVID-19, as is the case for other influenza-like illnesses (ILI) or acute respiratory tract infections (ARI). However, little is known, about the impact of a previous or current infection on the other in terms of susceptibility, immune response, and clinical course. The aim of the “Prior Infection with SARS-COV-2” (PICOV) study is to compare the time to occurrence of an ILI or ARI between participants with a confirmed past SARS-CoV-2 infection (previously infected) and those without a confirmed past infection (naïve) in residents and staff members of nursing homes. This paper describes the study design and population characteristics at baseline. Methods: In 26 Belgian nursing homes, all eligible residents and staff members were invited to participate, resulting in 1,226 participants. They were classified as naïve or previously infected based on the presence of detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and/or a positive RT-qPCR result before participation in the study. Symptoms from a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection between March and August 2020 were compared between previously infected residents and staff members. Results: Infection naïve nursing home residents reported fewer symptoms than previously infected residents: on average 1.9 and 3.1 symptoms, respectively (p = 0.016). The same effect was observed for infection naïve staff members and previously infected staff members (3.1 and 6.1 symptoms, respectively; p <0.0001). Moreover, the antibody development after a SARS-CoV-2 infection differs between residents and staff members, as previously infected residents tend to have a higher rate of asymptomatic cases compared to previously infected staff members (20.5% compared to 12.4%; p <0.0001). Conclusions: We can postulate that COVID-19 disease development and symptomatology are different between a geriatric and younger population. Therefore, the occurrence and severity of a future ILI and/or ARI might vary from resident to staff.

Geographic patterns of poor health and mortality risk are found in most countries. Important health effects at the neighborhood level are mortality, general health, illness and disabilities, mental health, and healthcare utilization. Awareness of the influence of social class on health has been growing during the last decades. Studies show that individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have a shorter life expectancy than do their 'well-off' counterparts. Yet SES-related health inequalities cannot be fully explained by individual characteristics, and environmental qualities should be taken into account. Many aspects of local areas that might be related to health or access to opportunities to live healthily are systematically poorer in socially disadvantaged areas. Such factors have the potential to explain health differences between deprived and prosperous neighborhoods. Investigating health differences at the neighborhood level implies conceptual as well as methodological issues pertaining to selection, accumulation, multiple level measurement, objective features versus perceptions, and time dynamic aspects. This article reviews such issues and evaluates several exemplary theoretical approaches from the fields of public health and environmental health in their ability to overcome such problems.

We have determined whether derivated fetal haemoglobin (dHbF, consisting of glycated and acetylated HbF) can be used as a cell age marker for fetal red blood cells (RBCs). Cord blood was obtained between 19 and 39 weeks of gestation from 28 alloimmunised anaemic fetuses (23 RhD+ and 5 Kell) and from 20 non-anaemic fetuses and newborns (controls). Density gradient centrifugation was applied to 36 samples (20 RhD+, 15 controls and 1 Kell) to obtain fractions of increasing cell age. Blood samples were used for measurements of mean cellular volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), pyruvate kinase activity (PK) and derivated fetal haemoglobin (dHbF) by cation-exchange HPLC. Reticulocytes were counted only in the whole blood samples. In all density gradient separated RBC fractions, the values for MCV, MCH and PK activity decreased and those of MCHC and dHbF increased with increasing density (equivalent to increasing cell age). The mean density was lower for RBCs of the anaemic RHD group (1.072±0.007 g/ml) than for the non-anaemic controls (1.077±0.005 g/ml) (p<0.05) The RBC density of the Kell sensitised fetus did not differ from those of the controls. In the control group, the values of the cell age markers in whole blood changed significantly with the gestational age, showing an increase of mean age of the erythrocyte population. The best linear relationship was found for dHbF (y=6.28+0.17*weeks; r=0.84; p<0.001). In the anaemic RhD+ fetuses, the RBC age markers did not change with gestational age; the dHbF percentages were lower, and the MCV, MCH, PK values and the reticulocyte counts were higher than in the controls (0.05<p<0.001). The dHbF values of the Kell sensitised fetuses were above (p<0.01) and the reticulocyte counts were below normal (p<0.05) for gestational age. For the anaemic fetuses, a significant number of the dHbF values (86%) and of the reticulocyte counts (78%) differed from the values of the controls (p<0.01). The dHbF percentages in RhD+ fetuses showed the best correlation with the Hb deficit, which is a measure for anaemia (r=−0.81, p<0.0001). We conclude that the percentage derivated HbF may indicate whether the RBC production is normal for gestational age. It may in that sense reflect stimulated or impaired erythropoiesis in alloimmunised haemolytic anaemia. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractObjectiveto determine incidence of ‘limy bile’ in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy; to analyze patient characteristics and preoperative imaging modalities in these patients and evaluate surgical treatmentPatients and Methods :a retrospective analysis of 1800 laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed between March 1990 and March 1998 for symptomatic gallbladder disease.Results:Five patients with limy bile (0,27 %) were identified. Four were female and one was male, age varied from 42 to 66. Most patients were symptomatic longtime before presentation. Ultrasound was not able to differentiate between normal gallstones or sludge. In three patients the diagnosis was made before operation, in one patient it was an incidental finding. Surgery in these patients is not more difficult than in any other patient.Conclusion :Limy bile is a rare finding (0,27% in 1800 cholecystectomies). Plain abdominal X-rays mostly suggest the presence of calcium carbonate precipitate in the gallbladder, but ultrasound cannot differentiate between cholelithiasis and limy bile. Laparoscopic resection can be performed without problems in most patients. Preoperative diagnosis of this rare entity is not essential, as it does not alter treatment.

Aqueous hydrogen sulfite reacts with Hg²⁺ to form, in the absence of excess HSO3^-, the HgSO3 complex, observed here for the first time. Its UV spectrum is described by ε(234 nm) = (1.57 ± 0.05) × 10⁴ M^-1 cm^-1. HgSO3 decomposes in an intramolecular redox reaction which is kinetically first-order. The rate constant is independent of [Hg²⁺], [HSO3^-], [O2(aq)], and ionic strength. An acid-assisted pathway becomes significant at pH ≤ 1, attributed to the contribution of HgSO3H⁺. The rate of the intramolecular reaction of HgSO3 was measured by trapping the Hg⁰ product as Hg2²⁺; the value of the rate constant is k0 = (0.0106 ± 0.0009) s^-1 at 25.0 °C, pH 3. The activation parameters for pH 3, ΔH^‡ and ΔS^‡, are (105 ± 2) kJ/mol and (68 ± 6) J/mol·K, respectively, consistent with a unimolecular bond cleavage mechanism. A pathway involving H2O-induced concerted 2e^- transfer is proposed.

Objective. The diagnosis of Lyme disease should be based on objective clinical signs and symptoms. In a clinical study, we have evaluated whether the recommended two-step approach for serodiagnosis of Lyme disease is useful in daily clinical practice and can influence clinical decision making.
Methods. The signs and symptoms of patients with ongoing musculoskeletal complaints, assumed by their referring physician or themselves to be attributable to active or chronic Lyme disease, and of patients diagnosed as having Lyme disease, were evaluated. On the basis of clinical evaluation only, patients were classified into three groups: previous Lyme disease, active Lyme disease and no Lyme disease. Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi were determined by means of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), followed, when positive, by immunoblotting.
Results. One hundred and three patients (41 males and 62 females, mean age 48.7 yr) participated in the study. Of the 49 patients classified as previous Lyme disease, 25 (51%) had antibodies to B. burgdorferi. All 10 patients with active Lyme disease had positive antibodies and 12 of the 44 patients (27%) classified as no Lyme disease had positive antibodies. No statistically significant differences were found between the percentage of positive immunoblots from patients with previous Lyme disease (72%) and patients with active Lyme disease (100%). In the group of no Lyme disease, five out of 12 patients had a negative immunoblot. Concerning serological testing, immunoblotting could have added additional information. However, immunoblotting did not influence clinical decision making in this group of patients.
Conclusion. Immunoblotting did not influence clinical decision making for the 47 patients with antibodies to B. burgdorferi in this study.

AbstractRhyzopertha dominica(F.) (lesser grain borer, Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) is a major pest of stored grain in the United States, Australia, and most other warm regions of the world. It has rarely been detected in Canadian grain, until recently. To determine the distribution of/R. dominicain western Canada, Lindgren multiple-funnel traps baited with R. dominicaaggregation pheromones were placed near grain elevators, feed mills, and farms. Rhyzopertha dominicawas found flying outside grain-handling facilities in all Prairie Provinces in 1990 and 1991, with thousands collected in Manitoba, hundreds in Alberta, and less than 100 in Saskatchewan. A few R. dominicawere caught in Vancouver and Thunder Bay. None were caught in the traps placed beside two grain elevators in southern Ontario. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, the locations with R. dominicawere mainly in the south. In Manitoba, the total number of R. dominicacaught at each location was higher in the south than in the north. Rhyzopertha dominicawere caught as early as 15 May and as late as 18 September, with the peak numbers for a given location occurring between July and September. No difference in the total number of R. dominicacaught per year was found among farms, feed mills, or grain elevators in 1990 or 1991. Sampling of stored grain on three farms showed that two of the eight bins sampled had R. dominica. The possible origins of the R. dominica(importation of infested grain, wind-borne migration from the United States, or an established Canadian population) are discussed.

The application of anodic stripping voltammetry to the determination of Cu, Pb, and Cd in acidified sea water samples has been examined. The analyses were carried out using a thin film mercury electrode prepared in situby the method of Florence. The electrode was rotated in the collection step but held stationary in the stripping step. The stripping involved a linear DC potential ramp and background compensation was employed. Resolution of the stripping peaks required "curve fitting" of the baseline.In the acidified sea water electrolyte it was found that the Pb and Cd stripped to Pb(II) and Cd(II) while the Cu stripped to Cu(I). A good correlation was found between the stripping signals and predictions based on the Levich equation for deposition at a rotating disk electrode and the De Vries and Van Dalen equation for stripping from a thin film electrode. The effect of sample acidity was examined and it was concluded that in unpolluted, filtered sea water the total metal was free for analysis at pH 2. Calibration was by the method of standard addition and intercalibration studies showed that the results agreed well with those obtained by other methods.

Adenosine is known to induce rapid cardioplegic arrest and to improve postischemic recovery in the isolated rat heart Long exposures to high doses of adenosine impair postischemic recovery, however. In this paper we tested the combination of low-dose adenosine (1 mmol/L) with potassium (26 mmol/L), with the aim of achieving rapid arrest (as with high-dose adenosine) but eliminating the need for postarrest washout of adenosine. Cardioplegie solutions studied were (1) Krebs-Henseleit potassium (26 mmol/L) (K); (2) K plus adenosine (1 mmol/L) (KA); (3) K plus an adenosine deaminase inhibitor [erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine] (0.1 mmol/L) (KE); and as control (4) Krebs-Henseleit potassium (6 mmol/L) (C). We induced cardiac arrest in Langendorff-perfused rat hearts by infusing the cardioplegic solution for 3 minutes at 3 ml/min. Total ischemia lasted 20 minutes at 37° C, followed by reperfusion for 30 minutes. High potassium decreased the arrest time from 260 ± 16 seconds (group C, mean values ± standard error of the mean) to 22 ± 4 seconds (group K). A further decrease to 10 ± 2 seconds was observed with KA (p = 0.016 versus K). KE, which increased endogenous adenosine, gave intermediate effects. All hearts recovered during reperfusion; the product of developed tension and heart rate (grams per minute) was superior in KA hearts (6250 ± 740 versus K hearts 4380 ± 390; p = 0.050). KE gave an intermediate result (5290 ± 900), while C showed the worst recovery (3180 ± 830). Our electrophysiologic studies with sinus node and atrial tissue suggest that adenosine induced hyperpolarization and an increase in potassium permeability, thereby arresting the sinus node before depolarization of the membrane by potassium (26 mmol/L). We conclude that low-dose adenosine as an adjunct to potassium shortens the arrest time in this model and improves postischemic recovery.

Study objectiveTo study the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and stomach cancer incidence (cardia and non-cardia) and the role of lifestyle factors in explaining this association.DesignProspective cohort study on diet and cancer that started in 1986. Data were collected by means of a self administered questionnaire.SettingPopulation originating from 204 municipalities in the Netherlands.Participants58 279 men aged 55-69 years. After 4.3 years of follow up, 162 incident stomach cancer cases were detected (49 cardia and 113 non-cardia cases).Main results and conclusionsAfter adjustment for age, a lower overall stomach cancer risk was found for men with the highest attained level of education (RR highest/lowest level = 0.54, 95%CI 0.33, 0.89, trend, p=0.02). This association became less strong after additional adjustment for smoking, intake of vitamin C, β carotene, alcohol and coffee, family history of stomach cancer, and history of stomach disorders (RR=0.61, 95%CI 0.34, 1.07, trend, p=0.11). No clear association was found between occupation based SES indicators and stomach cancer risk. Analyses per subsite of stomach cancer revealed that for people with the highest level of education the age adjusted rate ratio for cardia cancer changed from 0.37 (95%CI = 0.13, 1.00) to 0.60 (95% CI = 0.19, 1.87) after additional adjustment for lifestyle variables, whereas the rate ratio for non-cardia cancer (RR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.33, 1.05) did not change after additional adjustment.

The local pressure changes associated with the twice-annual contraction/intensification andexpansion/weakening of the circumpolar trough of low pressure around Antarctica, termed thesemiannual oscillation (SAO), was the dominant signal in the annual cycle at mid and highsouthern latitudes before 1979. The mechanism, as shown by Van Loon (1967), arises fromdifferent response to the surface heat budget over the polar continent and the midlatitude ocean.It has subsequently been shown that in most years since 1979 the SAO has weakened considerably. Evidence is presented here from surface temperature data, 500 mb temperatures from astation pair and zonal mean 500 mb temperatures from the NCAR/NCEP reanalyses to showthat a warming trend since 1979 has not been evenly distributed through the year at eachlatitude. Thus an anomalous change in the temperature gradient between 50°S and 65°S, withpeaks in roughly May and November, has modulated the mechanism that produces the SAO, with its peaks in March and September. Consequently, the magnitude of the SAO has decreasedin the more recent period.

The polarographic behavior of iridium(IV) has been studied in basic solutions at 25 °C at an ionic strength maintained with sodium chloride at 0.50 M. Between pH 11.3 and 13.0, a reversible, diffusion-controlled, one Faraday per mole reduction wave was obtained. The E1/2was −0.60 V versus a saturated calomel reference electrode at pH 12.0; a shift of −57 mV per pH unit indicated that one hydrogen ion is involved in the reduction. With basic solutions of iridium(III), the corresponding oxidation wave was obtained, but the metal was easily air oxidized. The basic iridium(IV) species gave an absorption peak at 313 mμ. The rate of formation of the basic iridium(III) complex from an acid iridium(III) solution was found to be more rapid than that of the basic iridium(IV) complex from an acid iridium(IV) solution. The reaction of iridium (IV) with ethylenediaminetetracetate was also studied.

The article outlines a disaster preparedness plan for public gardens to protect and preserve garden trees from natural hazards and get insurance protection, that includes defining the collection of plants, providing plant valuation and collaborating with other sister organizations.

AbstractGrowing popularity of laparoscopic interventions must bring along a thorough knowledge of possible complications inherent to the laparoscopic technique. With these two cases of residual appendicitis following incomplete appendectomy, the authors want to warn for this complication. Surgeons should be aware of residual appendicitis as a possible cause of acute abdomen at any time following a laparoscopic appendectomy.