Background: Atypical femoral fracture (AFF) is documented as a known but rare complication of bisphosphonate use for the treatment of osteoporosis. These present in an incomplete form prior to failure, which results in a complete fracture requiring surgical intervention. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of Osteoporosis and for monitoring the response to therapeutic interventions. This provides an opportunity to use routine DXA scans to identify incomplete atypical fractures, which can subsequently be monitored for progression and pre-fracture intramedullary nailing undertaken where necessary. DXA manufacturers have developed extended femur scans to assess and measure the femoral cortex for incipient atypical femoral fractures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the precision errors related to the cortical measurements and for hip bone mineral density using the extended femur setting. Methodology: A single operator performed duplicate same day in-vivo measurements of the femur in 30 consenting participants, with repositioning between scans, during their visit for routine DXA scanning. The study was performed on a single GE Lunar Prodigy scanner (GE Lunar, Bedford, UK). Root mean squared standard deviation (RMS SD) and coefficient of variation (RMS CV%) were calculated for the cortex measurements known as beaking index (BI) and hip bone mineral density (BMD) measurements. Results: The use of the extended femur scan software yielded an RMS SD (RMS CV%) of 0.011 (1.43%) for the total hip and 0.015 (2.05%) for the femoral neck. The BI measurement RMS SD (RMS CV%) was 0.473 (38.10%) Visual assessment of the femoral cortex discounted all positive BI anomalies as software generated in this dataset. Conclusions: The use of extended femur scan software did not affect the precision errors of the BMD measurements at the hip when compared to the literature on focused hip scans, however this study is unique with nothing similar being found in the published literature. The BI precision errors were much greater than those seen at the hip and therefore unreliable unless accompanied by visual assessment which is recommended to avoid unnecessary investigation in around one fifth of the scan population.

An analytical methodology based on thermal desorption and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with dual time-of-flight mass spectrometry and flame ionization detection (TD-GC x GC-TOFMS/FID) has been developed for non-target analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The technique was optimised for the measurement of the VOC content of the particulate phase (PP) fraction of aerosols produced by a tobacco heating product (THP1.0) and 3R4F mainstream tobacco smoke (MTS). The method involves sampling the PP fraction on quartz wool packed in a sorbent tube directly connected to machine-puffing, followed by a dilution through a TD recollection procedure over Tenax/Sulficarb sorbent before TD-GC x GC-TOFMS/FID analysis. The comparison of the VOC content of the PP fraction of aerosols produced by THP1.0 and MTS highlighted the compositional difference between tobacco combustion (592 peaks) and tobacco heating process (160 peaks). Mass spectrometric signals were used for qualitative analyses based on linear retention indices, mass spectral matches, and GC x GC structured chromatograms, which collectively identified up to 90% of analytes detected in PP samples. FID signals were used for semi-quantitative analyses based on a chemical class external calibration method. The global chemical composition of PP samples showed that hydrocarbons, oxygenated, and nitrogen-containing compounds were fewer in number and much less abundant in THP1.0 PP. Overall, 93 compounds were common to the two sample types. Excepted for a few highly volatile compounds (mainly furan family) as well as glycerine and its acetate, analyte concentrations were higher in MTS PP. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This chapter discusses the electrospinning process for the preparation of antimicrobial membranes. The recent acceleration in research into electrospinning has seen it emerge as a strong candidate for the commercial production of nanofibers for medical, filtration and textile applications. However, membrane fouling remains a significant barrier to the application of nanofibers to membrane processes. This chapter discusses the control of electrospinning parameters to modify nanofiber diameter and also addresses the role of nanofiber morphology on microbial adhesion; a major contributor to biofouling of nanofiber membranes. Inclusion of antimicrobials into nanofibers is explored with a focus on filtration applications.

Data is one of an organization's most valuable and strategic assets. Testing the relational database schema, which protects the integrity of this data, is of paramount importance. Mutation analysis is a means of estimating the fault-finding "strength" of a test suite. As with program mutation, however, relational database schema mutation results in many "ineffective" mutants that both degrade test suite quality estimates and make mutation analysis more time consuming. This paper presents a taxonomy of ineffective mutants for relational database schemas, summarizing the root causes of ineffectiveness with a series of key patterns evident in database schemas. On the basis of these, we introduce algorithms that automatically detect and remove ineffective mutants. In an experimental study involving the mutation analysis of 34 schemas used with three popular relational database management systems-HyperSQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite-the results show that our algorithms can identify and discard large numbers of ineffective mutants that can account for up to 24 percent of mutants, leading to a change in mutation score for 33 out of 34 schemas. The tests for seven schemas were found to achieve 100 percent scores, indicating that they were capable of detecting and killing all non-equivalent mutants. The results also reveal that the execution cost of mutation analysis may be significantly reduced, especially with "heavyweight" DBMSs like PostgreSQL.

A simple direct sample collection/dilution and introduction method was developed using quartz wool and Tenax/sulficarb sorbents for thermal desorption and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (TD-GC x GC) analyses of volatile organic compounds from vapour phase (VP) fractions of aerosol produced by tobacco heating products (THP1.0) and 3R4F mainstream tobacco smoke (MTS). Analyses were carried out using flame ionisation detection (FID) for semi-quantification and both low and high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LR/HR-TOFMS) for qualitative comparison and peak assignment. Qualitative analysis was carried out by combining identification data based on linear retention indices (LRIs) with a match window of +/- 10 index units, mass spectral forward and reverse library searches (from LR and HRTOFMS spectra) with a match factor threshold of >700 (both forward and reverse), and accurate mass values off +/- 3 ppm for increased confidence in peak identification. Using this comprehensive approach of data mining, a total of 79 out of 85 compounds and a total of 198 out of 202 compounds were identified in THP1.0 aerosol and in 3R4F MTS, respectively. Among the identified analytes, a set of 35 compounds was found in both VP sample types. Semi-quantitative analyses were carried out using a chemical class-based external calibration method. Acyclic, alicyclic, aromatic hydrocarbons and ketones appeared to be prominent in 3R4F MTS VP, whereas larger amounts of aldehydes, ketones, heterocyclic hydrocarbons and esters were present in THP1.0 aerosol VP. The results demontsrate the capability and versatility of the method for the characterization and comparison of complex aerosol samples and highlighted the relative chemical simplicity of THP1.0 aerosol in comparison to MTS. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

AbstractJellyfish have emerged as a source of next generation collagen that is an attractive alternative to existing sources, such as bovine and porcine, due to a plentiful supply and providing a safer source through lack of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) transmission risk and potential viral vectors, both of which could be transmitted to humans. Here we compare collagen implantable sponges derived for the first time from the Rhizostoma pulmo jellyfish. A further novelty for the research was that there was a comparison for sponges that were either uncrosslinked or crosslinked using 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC), and an assessment on how this affected resorption, as well as their biocompatibility compared to bovine type I collagen sponges. The scaffolds were prepared and examined using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The samples were implanted in adult male Wistar rats for in vivo experimentation. Both crosslinked and uncrosslinked jellyfish collagen sponges showed a significant reduction in histopathology scores over the course of the study, whereas the bovine collagen sponge scores were not significantly reduced. Both jellyfish collagen sponges and the bovine sponge were tolerated well by the hosts, and a recovery was visible in all samples, suggesting that R. pulmo jellyfish‐derived collagen could offer compelling biocompatibility with wound healing applications. We also demonstrate that noncrosslinked samples could be safer with better resorption times than crosslinked samples. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 1524–1533, 2018.

Primary and secondary microbial adhesion onto solid surfaces has been the onset of development of a mature biofilm in aqueous environments that is predominantly the mode of bacterial contamination and spread of diseases. Adhesion and co-adhesion assays are therefore useful in understanding the adhesive interactions between microorganism and its surfaces. Various factors influence cell adhesion and biofilm formation, depending on aqueous medium and the type of microorganism in place. Similarly, factors such as ionic strength, pH and temperature are vital factors that influence cell growth and surface attachment. Different methods are available for testing adhesion and coadhesion assays such as macroscopic methods, microscopic methods, steady state and kinetic turbidometric methods, mathematical methods and slide based. However, out of these, parallel plate flow chambers (PPFC) are reportedly convenient and easy to use.

Membrane pore wetting is the main problem hindering long term stability of permeate flux quality in membrane distillation (MD) applications. A superhydrophobic membrane with micro and nanostructured surface features can offer a unique solution to resolve this issue. Thus, a modified electrospun membrane was fabricated using a combination of electrospinning and electrospraying. The membrane surface hydrophobicity was enhanced by constructing a beaded structure from spraying a mixture of non-fluorinated alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) mixed with low concentration of PVDF polymer on an electrospun base membrane made from PVDF. The results revealed that a rough surface with a hierarchical structure can be constructed, which could not only enhance the membrane hydrophobicity, but also further enhance the permeate efficiency by improving parameters such as flux and rejection. Additionally, the membrane hydrophobicity could be further tuned by controlling the bead spinning volume. Our study shows that the modified membrane with 7.8 mu m beads layer thickness has boosted the liquid entry pressure (LEP) by 61% from 15.5 psi and the water contact angle to 154 degrees. The performance of modified membranes with different spraying volume (1-5 ml) along with the neat electrospun and commercial membranes were examined in an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) application for 5 h using a 2.5 wt% of synthetic heavy metal solution as a wastewater model. Then, the optimized superhydrophobic membrane with 2 ml spinning volume (ES15-2) was further tested in comparison with the commercial membrane during long-term operations (30 h) using 3.5 wt% of mixed heavy metals. The flux was 18.67 LMH (1 m(-2) h(-1)) for modified membrane (ES15-2) compare with 12.62 LMH for commercial PVDF membrane during 30 h of long-term operation with feed and coolant temperature at 60 degrees C, 20 degrees C, respectively. The present superhydrophobic membrane fabricated by a combined electrospinning/electrospray method shows high potential for MD applications.

This article presents a perspective on the current development and application of membranes for the treatment of water. We examine how membranes contribute to the global challenge of sustainable supply of clean water. The main theme is on desalination and how innovative science and emerging technology is being applied. Thus, we appraise how techniques such as advanced membrane materials, biomimetic membranes, hybrid systems, forward osmosis, and membrane distillation are being used to improve production to meet the increasing global demand for water.

Background: The control of asthmatic symptoms in pediatric patients is an important medical concern. Without optimized medical care, children are at risk for repeated exacerbations and unnecessary medical encounters. Recurrent ED visits for asthma-related symptoms in pediatric patients may be minimized with better outpatient management. Our goal was to decrease the number of ED encounters for pediatric patients with asthma symptoms by improving care coordination with increased follow-up office visits, decreased time to follow-ups, and more comprehensive assessments/management. Methods: We reviewed 765 (n = 553 unique patients) ED encounters from the historic and prospective time periods, with 148 (136 unique patients) and 176 (130 unique patients), respectively, eligible. For the prospective group, an ED manager contacted the patients/guardians after the encounter and encouraged them to have a follow-up outpatient clinic visit within 7 days. At the clinic visit, the patient was evaluated using questionnaires that assessed barriers and goals. Subsequent clinic telephone contacts were made to the patient as needed. If suspected eligible, the patient was referred to a community partner for home assessment. A multidisciplinary team including an ED physician, ED care manager, pediatric and family medicine residents, pediatric and family medicine clinical care coordinators, and medical education department staff was assembled, and hospital and community resources were used to conduct follow-up and analyze the data. Results: The prospective period patients had a 4 (RR: 95% CI 2.1, 7.5) times greater rate of at least an additional ED encounter than historic period patients, rates being 9% (95% CI 5%, 16%) vs 35% (95% CI 27%, 47%). Follow-up visit rates were 59% vs 66% for the historic and prospective periods, respectively. Of referrals made to the community health partner, 59% were from the study’s health system, which represented more than all other community hospitals combined. Of referred patient families, 59% received some type of service, including asthma education, home supplies, and home repairs. Conclusion: Management of asthma symptoms in pediatric patients is a dynamic problem with many contributing factors. The present study focused on creating a greater collaborative relationship between pediatric ED, primary care clinics, and community partners. Results were encouraging although it was difficult to control for possible data dependencies for patient observations within and between study periods, and it was also difficult to attribute outcomes to interventions in a nonrandomized study, although many future opportunities were revealed.

The surface fouling of UF membranes used upstream as pre-treatment stage is critical for the long-term stability of the subsequent treatment stage (NF/RO membranes). In this paper, an attempt was made to probe and compare the potential of versatile UF membranes structures in terms of flux decline and selectivity, for more convenient pretreatment membranes selection. The role of polyethersulfone (PES) host polymer concentration, on the morphology and surface characteristics of asymmetric flat sheet ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, has been comprehensively investigated. Distinctly, as the casting solution viscosity decrease, a higher pore size, pore size distribution and pure water flux was observed along with lower mechanical properties and wider cross-section morphologies. However, this impact was trivial on water contact angle, surface roughness parameters and charge negativity of the membrane. To further assess the potential performance of the hand-made fabricated membranes, they were systematically evaluated against three organic model foulants with dissimilar origins; humic acid (HA) - as natural organic matters (NOM), sodium alginate (NaAlg) as polysaccharide, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) - as protein, under different initial feed concentration and pH chemistry. A disparate fouling behavior was observed depending on the membrane characteristics and the organic model foulant used. Depending on the UF membrane cut-off used, lower MWCO membranes, PES22 (6 kDa) and PES20 (10 kDa) exhibited a negligible relative flux decline while extremely low relative flux patterns were observed in the filtration with the 100 kDa membrane (PES16), as a result of one or more pore blocking mechanisms observed.

Nanofibers are an important material for regenerative medicine as they have a commensurate morphology to that of the macromolecular matrix that supports and houses the growth of cells and tissues within the body. Electrospinning is widely used to fabricate non-woven structures on the nanoscale and the versatility of the technique has widened the application of nanofibers. This is due to ease of extending nanofiber functionality through the incorporation of active materials both during and after electrospinning. Recent developments in electrospinning devices, such as needle-free systems, have reinvigorated research as these advances now allow fabrication of nanofibers at commercial scales. The process of electrospinning has a number of operating parameters that are adjusted in optimisation to achieve ideal fibres and a multitude of instrument configurations can be adopted to achieve the required manufacture. The innate properties of nanofibers, such as high surface area to volume ratio, have many proven benefits for regenerative medicine and the chapter examines these before discussing how functionality can be further improved. Numerous materials can be incorporated in the manufacture of electrospun mats, however when choosing materials for regenerative medicine, biocompatibility and biodegradability are the dominant functionalities that are required.

The ability to control the mechanical properties of cell culture environments is known to influence cell morphology, motility, invasion and differentiation. The present work shows that it is possible to control the mechanical properties of collagen gels by manipulating gelation conditions near the sol gel transition. This manipulation is accomplished by performing gelation in two stages at different temperatures. The mechanical properties of the gel are found to be strongly dependent on the duration and temperature of the first stage. In the second stage the system is quickly depleted of free collagen which self assembles into a highly branched network characteristic of gelation at the higher temperature (37 °C). An important aspect of the present work is the use of advanced rheometric techniques to assess the transition point between viscoelastic liquid and viscoelastic solid behaviour which occurs upon establishment of a sample spanning network at the gel point. The gel time at the stage I temperature is found to indicate the minimum time that the gelling collagen sample must spend under stage I conditions before the two stage gelation procedure generates an enhancement of mechanical properties. Further, the Fractional Maxwell Model is found to provide an excellent description of the time-dependent mechanical properties of the mature collagen gels.

A method involving headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) was developed and optimised to elucidate the volatile composition of the particulate phase fraction of aerosol produced by tobacco heating products (THPs). Three SPME fiber types were studied in terms of extraction capacity and precision measurements. Divinylbenzene polydimethylsiloxane appeared as the most efficient coating for these measurements. A central composite design of experiment was utilised for the optimization of the extraction conditions. Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of the headspace above THP aerosol condensate was carried out using optimised extraction conditions. Semi-quantitative analyses of detected constituents were performed by assuming that their relative response factors to the closest internal standard (itR) were equal to 1. Using deconvoluted mass spectral data (library similarity and reverse match >750) and linear retention indices (match window of ±15 index units), 205 peaks were assigned to individual compounds, 82 of which (including 43 substances previously reported to be present in tobacco) have not been reported previously in tobacco aerosol. The major volatile fraction of the headspace contained ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, alicyclic hydrocarbons alkenes, and alkanes. The method was further applied to compare the volatiles from the particulate phase of aerosol composition of THP with that of reference cigarette smoke and showed that the THP produced a less complex chemical mixture. This new method showed good efficiency and precision for the peak areas and peak numbers from the volatile fraction of aerosol particulate phase for both THP and reference cigarettes.

•Novel, rapid and facile method for decorating MWCNTs surface with silver nanoparticles.•Physical deposition of Ag NPs on MWCNTs via microwave treatment.•Self-cleaning/antimicrobial nanocomposite membranes for wastewater and desalination applications.•Long term antibacterial activity for polymeric membranes blended with Ag-MWCNTs.•Role of Ag-NPs size on the bacteriostatic activity of nanocomposite membranes against E. coli and St. aureus.

Novel hybrid nanostructures (HNS) comprising of a mussel-inspired polymer coated metal/metal oxide (M/MO)–carbon nanotubes (CNTs), were successfully synthesized and used to fabricate Thin Film Nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for desalination applications. For comparison, four different M/MO (Aluminium oxide-Al2O3, Iron oxide-Fe2O3, Titanium dioxide-TiO2 and Silver-Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were in situ synthesized/loaded on the surface of CNTs, and the resultant HNS were further coated with a thin polymeric film of polydopamine (PDA). An intermediate layer of HNS was then deposited on a PES substrate membrane and an interfacial polymerization (IP) process was carried out to render a polyamide (PA) thin layer above the intermediate layer. Both HNS and TFN were characterized using different characterization tools, including fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential (ZP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), surface hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, and the performance of nanofiltration (NF) membranes were evaluated against monovalent and divalent salts solutions. The fabricated TFN-NF membranes had higher performance in terms of their permeation characteristics compared to the thin film composite TFC membrane, while maintaining their selectivity against both monovalent and divalent salts solutions with only minor variation depending on the incorporated HNS used to prepare the TFN.

The in situ ethanol pre-treatment of commercially available polysulfone (PSU) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes resulted in a threefold increase in the pure water flux (PWF) values achieved. Techniques that lead to an increase in flux are of both academic and commercial interest. It is postulated that the mechanisms for performance improvement can be attributed to swelling of membrane skin-layers, as demonstrated by changes in thickness measurements, and consideration of polymer solubility parameters, giving a degree of polymer plasticisation. The modification is accompanied by a hydrophobicity increase - this parameter is linked to a greater fouling tendency. Increases in hydrophobicity contrast with the usual effect of ethanol contact, by enhancing the removal of membrane preservatives and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a common pore-forming agent. Mechanical property changes were not readily detected, whilst the apparently unaltered sub-layer masked more subtle changes occurring within the dense skin-layer. Directing analysis specifically at the skin layer using colloidal AFM probes allowed a decoupling of changes against the support, showing that the elastic modulus was reduced as a consequence of PVP removal and plasticisation. Moreover, regional elasticity probing allowed observation of spatial inhomogeneities in elasticity, occurring due to the removal of the previously unevenly distributed PVP and leading to pitting. Consequently, the effects of pre-treatment with ethanol are shown to offer advantages by maximising the performance of commercial membranes, though such methods must be used with caution. Elasticity changes that occur may be detrimental to performance if carried out at high transmembrane pressures, where compaction could be assisted.