The mechanical properties of barnacle base plates were measured using a punch test apparatus, with the purpose of examining the effect that the base plate flexural rigidity may have on adhesion mechanics. Base plate compliance was measured for 43 Balanus amphitrite (=Amphibalanus amphitrite) barnacles. Compliance measurements were used to determine flexural rigidity (assuming a fixed-edge circular plate approximation) and composite modulus of the base plates. The barnacles were categorized by age and cement type (hard or gummy) for statistical analyses. Barnacles that were 'hard' (> or =70% of the base plate thin, rigid cement) and 'gummy' (>30% of the base plate covered in compliant, tacky cement) showed statistically different composite moduli but did not show a difference in base plate flexural rigidity. The average flexural rigidity for all barnacles was 0.0020 Nm (SEM +/- 0.0003). Flexural rigidity and composite modulus did not differ significantly between 3-month and 14-month-old barnacles. The relatively low flexural rigidity measured for barnacles suggests that a rigid punch approximation is not sufficient to account for the contributions to adhesion mechanics due to flexing of real barnacles during release.

It has been shown that the severity of hepatic fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C can be predicted non-invasively by measuring intrahepatic circulatory time (IHCT) using a microbubble agent with spectral Doppler analysis. The aim of this study was to assess whether this technique is reproducible using a third-generation microbubble agent and contrast harmonic imaging, which are becoming the standard ultrasound techniques in all radiology departments. Twenty-three untreated patients with hepatitis C, who had undergone a recent liver biopsy, were studied prospectively. Based on their histological fibrosis score, patients were divided into four groups (fibrosis levels 1-4). Contrast harmonic imaging was carried out after an intravenous bolus of a microbubble agent (Optison; Amersham Health, Milwaukee, WI, USA). IHCT was calculated by measuring the difference between the hepatic vein and hepatic artery microbubble arrival times. The IHCT was compared with the degree of fibrosis. Significant differences were shown between the groups for IHCT. There were significant differences between fibrosis levels 1 and 3 and between fibrosis levels 1 and 4. This study has shown that calculation of IHCT using a third-generation microbubble agent and contrast harmonic imaging can differentiate mild fibrosis from more severe degrees of fibrosis in patients with hepatitis C.

This exploratory study in heart transplantation suggests that the outcomes of EAR and LAR episodes may be influenced by genetic variant interactions such as "CX3CR1 249I*CCR5 No-E" and "CCR5 E*RANTES -403A."

HCV-infected individuals were inconsistently tested for HAV and HBV. Patients' race, but not gender, had a significant impact upon whether HCV-infected individuals were tested for HAV and HBV.

The way we perceive a sound depends on many aspectsits ecological frequency, acoustic features, typicality, and most notably, its identified source. In this paper, we present the HCU400: a dataset of 402 sounds ranging from easily identifiable everyday sounds to intentionally obscured artificial ones. It aims to lower the barrier for the study of aural phenomenology as the largest available audio dataset to include an analysis of causal attribution. Each sample has been annotated with crowd-sourced descriptions, as well as familiarity, imageability, arousal, and valence ratings. We extend existing calculations of causal uncertainty, automating and generalizing them with word embeddings. Upon analysis we find that individuals will provide less polarized emotion ratings as a sound's source becomes increasingly ambiguous; individual ratings of familiarity and imageability, on the other hand, diverge as uncertainty increases despite a clear negative trend on average.