2,243 publications from this institution
During the last few decades researchers have developed an enormous interest in the interaction of the work and family domains. This paper is an attempt to review the recent literature and to categorize the various outcomes produced by the relationship between work and family as far as health is concerned.
We compared the adrenal steroid responses after synthetic ACTH-(l–24) (Cosyntropin) administration given by either continuous iv infusion or bolus injection in 11 normal women and 6 normal men. Each subject received 250 ¼g Cosyntropin as a bolus iv injection on 1 occasion and as a continuous 2-h iv infusion on another occasion, in random order. There was a 1-week interval between the studies. We measured the plasma levels of cortisol, 11-deoxycortisol, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, progesterone, pregnenolone, 17-hydroxypregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, Δ5-androstenediol, androstenedione, and testosterone by RIA 15 and 0 min before and 30, 45, 60, and 120 min after administering ACTH. The steroid concentrations and their increments, ratios, or areas above baseline did not differ significantly between the bolus injection and the continuous infusion. Thus, at the dose of 250 ¼g, a bolus ACTH injection stimulates adrenal steroid secretion as effectively as a 2-h continuous ACTH infusion.
Oil and gas buried steel pipelines are vulnerable to permanent ground displacements, such as those resulting from tectonic fault activation. The dominant failure mechanism is strongly dependent on the type of faulting. The more complex case is the reverse fault type because the crossing pipeline is significantly compressed and bent and consequently, it may fail due to local buckling, upheaval buckling or tensile weld fracture. Which among those failure modes will be critical, depends on a set of parameters, comprising fault crossing geometry, diameter to thickness ratio (D/t) of the pipeline, pipeline steel grade, and backfill soil properties. An extensive parametric study is carried out, followed by statistical processing of the results in order to formulate simplified statistical models for the prediction of the predominant failure mode according to criteria set by the American Lifelines Alliance and EN 1998-4 standards. The study thus offers the first comprehensive attempt to quantify the qualitative criterion that deeply buried pipes with high D/t ratio tend to buckle locally, while shallowly buried pipes with low D/t ratio tend to buckle globally. Pipe designers may use the provided expressions to predict the predominant failure mode in order to either apply the necessary seismic countermeasures or re-design the pipeline if necessary.
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a highly prevalent and aggressive malignancy, with mortality rates that reach 60%, mainly due to an excessive diagnostic delay. MiRNAs, a class of crucial epigenetic gene-expression regulators, have emerged as potential diagnostic biomarkers, with >200 molecules reported to be dysregulated in OSCC. We had previously established an in silico methodology for the identification of the most disease-specific molecules by bridging genetics and epigenetics. Here, we identified the stage-specific miRNAs that govern the asymptomatic early stages of oral tumorigenesis by exploiting the reverse interplay between miRNA-levels and their target-genes’ expression. Incorporating gene expression data from our group’s experimental hamster model of sequential oral oncogenesis, we bioinformatically detected the miRNAs that simultaneously target/regulate >75% of the genes that are characteristically upregulated or downregulated in the consecutive stages of hyperplasia, dysplasia and early-invasion OSCC, while exhibiting the opposite expressional dysregulation in OSCC-derived tissue and/or saliva specimens. We found that all stages share the downregulation of miR-34a-5p, miR124-3p, and miR-125b-5p, while miR-1-3p is underexpressed in dysplasia and early-invasion. Malignant early-invasion stage is distinguished by the downregulation of miR-147a and the overexpression of miR-155-5p, miR-423-3p and miR-34a-5p. The identification of stage-specific miRNA molecules may facilitate their utilization as biomarkers for presymptomatic OSCC diagnosis.
Analytical, closed-form solutions are derived for the computation of equivalent constant rates of limit-state exceedance for structures under seismic loads whose capacity is degrading with time. Seismic guidelines currently designate constant, time-independent probabilities or mean annual frequencies of exceedance that are assumed to remain invariable for the entire design life. These are at odds with the time-dependent, ever-increasing exceedance rates of ageing structures. Based on the concept of social equity and discounting of societal investments, the equivalent constant rate provides a basis for judging the safety of structures with time-dependent capacity by allowing comparisons with the code-mandated rates of limit-state exceedance. Starting from the simple SAC/FEMA solution and assuming a power-law degradation of capacity with time and a linear change in the combined epistemic and aleatory variability of capacity, we provide general solutions for the equivalent constant rate and for the limiting case of the average rate over the design life of the structure. The solutions are formulated both in the demand-based and in the intensity-based format, the latter being suitable for all limit-states, even close to global collapse. By using a 7-story reinforced concrete building as an example, we demonstrate the accuracy and the practicality of these approximations for the assessment of an existing structure.
