A. Hameed, N. Sezian, A. Thwaini

Canadian Journal of Urology, Vol.14, No.6, pp. 3745-3749, 2007

Abstract Introduction: We are reporting a case of bladder contracture post intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy; to our knowledge only two cases were reported. We present the clinical history/presentation, investigation and the outcome of the treatment. Approximately 75%-85% of patients with bladder cancer present with disease confined to the mucosa (stage Ta-CIS) or submucosa (stage T1). The management of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer has become more complex with regard to initial investigation, treatment and follow-up. In high-grade tumors, BCG therapy has proven to be superior to intravesical chemotherapy. BCG therapy prevents, or at least delays, tumor progression.… More >

Levent N. Türkeri, Yusuf Temiz, Cenk M. Yazici, Ilker Tinay

Canadian Journal of Urology, Vol.14, No.6, pp. 3734-3738, 2007

Abstract Introduction: A modified suture technique for urethro-vesical anastomosis during radical retropubic prostatectomy was developed and utilized in a cohort of patients. Comparative analysis of postoperative outcome was performed with a previous group of patients who had an anastomosis with the conventional technique.
Material and methods: A consecutive group of patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy in our department with the diagnosis of localized prostate cancer was included in this retrospective study. Urethro-vesical anastomosis was performed either with the new or conventional method (CM). Outcome data of these two different patient sets were compared.
Results: One-hundred and one… More >

Grijalba PE, HE Palmucci

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.76, pp. 79-84, 2007, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2007.76.079

Abstract A new disease of Spathiphyllum wallisii plants, characterized by leaf yellowing and wilting due to root and crown rot, was observed in nurseries of the Great Buenos Aires, Argentina. A fungus was consistently isolated from diseased tissue and identified as Cylindrocladium spathiphylli, on the base of its morphological and cultural characteristics. Inoculation tests were carried out which confirmed this fungus as the causal agent of the disease. This is the first report of C. spathiphylli causing root and crown rot of S. wallisii in Buenos Aires. More >

Serrano-Bernardo F¹, JL Rosúa¹, M Díaz-Miguel²

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.76, pp. 27-38, 2007, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2007.76.027

Abstract The Mediterranean region is considered one of the most important zones worldwide in terms of plant diversity. Sierra Nevada (S Spain) is a unique mountain massif within the high-mountain systems of the Mediterranean. It is of great floristic importance and very rich in endemic species. However, it requires numerous tasks for restoring plant cover due to the constant anthropic degradation, especially because of the ski station located near the second-highest peak of the mountain. One of the restoration efforts consists of trying to reproduce, in the laboratory, the ideal conditions to pre-germinate seeds of some… More >

C.P. Providakis¹, M.E. Voutetaki

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.3, No.4, pp. 211-228, 2007, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2007.003.211

Abstract Piezoceramic transducers have emerged as new tools for the health monitoring of large-scale structures due to their advantages of active sensing, low cost, quick response, availability in different shapes, and simplicity for implementations. In the present paper, a statistical metamodeling utilization of electro-mechanical (E/M) admittance approach by applying piezoelectric materials to the damage identification is investigated. A response surface metamodel is constructed by empirically fitting a model to a set of design points chosen using a Box-Behnken design of experiment (simulation) technique. This empirical fit allows polynomial models to be produced for relating damage parameter More >

P.H. Wen¹, M.H. Aliabadi²

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 107-120, 2007, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2007.003.107

Abstract In the last decade, meshless methods for solving differential equations have become a promising alternative to the finite element and boundary element methods. Based on the variation of potential energy, the element-free Galerkin method is developed on the basis of finite element method by the use of radial basis function interpolation. An enriched radial basis function is formulated to capture the stress singularity at the crack tip. The usual advantages of finite element method are retained in this method but now significant improvement of accuracy. Neither the connectivity of mesh in the domain by the More >

J. Mohan¹, D. Carolan¹, N. Murphy¹, A. Ivankovic¹, D. Dowling¹

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 81-86, 2007, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2007.003.081

Abstract The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of a variety of plasma treatments on the surface properties of an epoxy-based composite material and to establish a relationship between these properties and the subsequent mechanical behaviour of adhesively bonded joints. To this end, specimens were subjected to three different types of plasma treatment: two short treatments (2min) of He and He plus O₂, and one long treatment (15min) of He plus O₂. The variation in surface energy of the composite specimens was examined in each case over a period of up to 3 days… More >

W. Brocks¹, I. Scheider¹

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 69-80, 2007, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2007.003.069

Abstract Cohesive models are used for numerical crack extension analyses in order to predict the mechanical behavior of structures in cases of crack path bifurcation. Possible applications range from the macroscopic to the microscopic scale. As an example of applications to macroscopic engineering structures, simulations of a stiffened cylindrical shell under internal pressure are presented, where a skin crack may penetrate the rib or deviate. On the micro-scale, unit-cell calculation for a fiber-reinforced material is performed, where the fiber may debond or break. More >

Abdulnaser M. Alshoaibi^1,2, M. S. A. Hadi², A. K. Ariffin²

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.3, No.1, pp. 15-28, 2007, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2007.003.015

Abstract An adaptive finite element method is employed to analyze two-dimensional linear elastic fracture problems. The mesh is generated by the advancing front method and the norm stress error is taken as a posteriori error estimator for the h-type adaptive refinement. The stress intensity factors are estimated by a displacement extrapolation technique. The near crack tip displacements used are obtained from specific nodes of natural six-noded quarter-point elements which are generated around the crack tip defined by the user. The crack growth and its direction are determined by the calculated stress intensity factors as the maximum circumference More >

VANINA L. JULIANELLI¹ , LILIANA N. GUERRA^*1, JUAN C. CALVO^*1,2

BIOCELL, Vol.31, No.2, pp. 237-245, 2007, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2007.31.237

Abstract Interaction between parenchyma and stroma is essential for organogenesis, morphogenesis, and differentiation. Mammary gland has being the chosen model for developmental biologist because the most striking changes in morphology and function take place after birth. We have demonstrated a regulation of triglyceride accumulation by protein factors synthesized by normal mouse mammary gland epithelial cells (NMMG), acting on a cell line, 3T3-L1, long used as a model for adipogenesis. In this paper, we demonstrate that this inhibitory effect seems to be shared by other cells of epithelial origin but not by other cell types. We found More >