2,243 publications from this institution
Breast cancer surgery and prolonged anticancer treatments lead to temporary of permanent changes in the appearance of the patients. Breast cancer conservative surgery or reconstruction can improve body image disturbances, however a subgroup of breast cancer survivors experience elevated levels of anxiety, depression and increased risk of mortality. Common practices often camouflage and target on temporary appearance changes. This paper systematically reviews the effectiveness of interventions on body image outcomes in this group, in order to inform healthcare providers. Pubmed and Scopus were searched for articles published from the start of the literature until 2018 that evaluated interventions with women who had undergone treatment for breast cancer in controlled trials with at least one body image measure. Data were extracted and studies were assessed for their methodological quality using the Jadad Scale. Results indicated four interventions that included a multimodal residential program, a multi-activity exercise program, a strength training program and a mindfulness based stress reduction intervention. We recommend that such interventions should be prioritized and be recommended to health care professionals aiming to improve body image among breast cancer survivors
A roadmap is outlined for determining comprehensive seismic fragility curves for (single or groups of) spherical pressure vessel structures commonly found in oil refineries. The developed modeling techniques aim to strike a balance between accuracy and computational efficiency, with a focus on capturing the most pertinent failure modes relevant to these structural types. First, a set of “partial” fragilities is determined based on each vessel’s fill ratio, as the response varies substantially depending on the amount of liquid content. Considering that a seismic assessment process invariably involves simultaneous consideration of such partial fragilities, a Monte Carlo-based approach is employed for their combination. The results naturally depend on the level of correlation employed, but can be almost perfectly matched by simpler analytical methods in the edge cases of full and zero correlation.
This chapter discusses seismic performance objectives and illustrates how limits on peak displacement and ductility demands constrain the properties of acceptable oscillators. Descriptions of the degree of damage to structural components, nonstructural components, and building contents at various shaking intensities have been articulated in greater detail, in parallel to the increase in precision in the specification of seismic hazard, the computation of structural demands, and the characterization of component capacities. The robust analytical tools that are available can be used to achieve more uniform performance over the large range of buildings presently designed based on prescriptive requirements and linear elastic analysis, on the one hand, avoiding the cost of needless conservatism, and on the other, reducing the risk of unacceptably poor performance. Performance-based design refers to the explicit consideration of building performance at several different seismic hazard levels during the design process.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most prevalent human malignancies and a global health concern with a poor prognosis despite therapeutic advances, highlighting the need for a better understanding of its molecular background. The genomic landscape of OSCC is well-established and recent research has focused on miRNAs, which regulate gene expression and may be useful as non-invasive biomarkers. A plethora of findings regarding miRNA expression have been generated, posing challenges for their interpretation and identification of disease-specific molecules. Hence, we opted to identify the most important miRNA molecules by bridging genetics and epigenetics, focusing on the key genes implicated in OSCC development. Based on published reports, we have developed a custom panel of 15 major oncogenes and a second panel of 5 major tumor suppressor genes. Following a miRNA/target interaction analysis and a comprehensive study of the literature, we selected the miRNA molecules, which target the majority of each gene panel and are reported to be downregulated or upregulated in OSCC, respectively. As a result, miR-34a-5p, miR-155-5p, miR-124-3p, miR-1-3p and miR-16-5p appeared to be the most OSCC-specific. Their expressional patterns, their verified targets and the signaling pathways affected by their dysregulation in OSCC, are thoroughly discussed in this review.
In this study, the influence of high temperature on corrosion resistance of steel rebars and the mechanical strength of nano-modified mortars is investigated. Two (2) different mixtures were prepared and tested in the lab; mortars containing 0.2 wt% multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and mortars without nanomaterials for comparison reasons. The specimens were heated in a furnace up to 800οC for 1 h. Destructive and non-destructive tests were used to evaluate the fire resistance and durability performance of cementitious materials. In particular, the corrosion protection provided by nanomaterials was investigated using electrochemical and mass loss measurements on reinforcing steel, whilst strength tests of mortars were also carried out to evaluate their mechanical behavior after exposure in elevated temperatures. SEM and XRD techniques were used to analyze the surface and microstructure of the steel bars and mortars. The results showed, that the CNT addition slightly improves the strength and durability of mortars exposed to high temperatures as compared with the plain OPC mortar. At the same time, the corrosion resistance of steel rebars was enhanced using carbon nanotubes in mortars after exposure to high temperatures.
The bilinear approximation of force-deformation capacity curves is investigated for structural systems with non-negative-stiffness. This piecewise linear approximation process factually links capacity and demand; it lies at the core of the nonlinear static assessment pro- cedures, and it has become part of seismic guidelines and codes, such as ASCE-41 and Euro- code 8. Despite codification, the various fitting rules, used to derive the bilinear representation, can produce highly heterogeneous results for the same capacity curve. This is especially valid for highly-curved backbones resulting from structural models with accurate representation of the initial, uncracked, stiffness or buildings characterized by a global col- lapse mechanism that leads to a gradual plasticization of the elements. The error introduced by the bilinearization of the force-deformation relationship is quan- tified by studying it at the single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) level, away from any interference from multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) effects, thus avoiding the issue related to MDOF - SDOF approximation. Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is employed to enable a direct comparison of the actual backbones versus their bilinear approximations in terms of the spec- tral acceleration capacity for a continuum of limit-states, allowing a direct comparison of the results in terms of seismic performance. Code-based procedures are found to be less than ideal wherever there are significant stiffness changes, while in general remaining relatively conservative. The practical fitting rules determined allow, instead, a near-optimal fit regardless of the details of the capacity curve shape.
