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Functional Behaviour (functional + behaviour)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Functional behaviour of bone around dental implants,

GERODONTOLOGY, Issue 2 2004
Clark M. Stanford
Achieving a long-term stable implant interface is a significant clinical issue when there is insufficient cortical bone stabilisation at implant placement. Clinical outcomes studies suggest that the higher risk implants are those placed in compromised cortical bone (thin, porous, etc.) in anatomical sites with minimal existing trabecular bone (characterised as type IV bone). In establishing and maintaining an implant interface in such an environment, one needs to consider the impact of masticatory forces, the response of bone to these forces and the impact of age on the adaptive capacity of bone. These forces, in turn, have the potential to create localised changes in interfacial stiffness through viscoelastic changes at the interface. Changes in bone as a function of age (e.g. localised hypermineralised osteopetrosis and localised areas of osteopenia) will alter the communication between osteocytes and osteoblasts creating the potential for differences in response of osteoblastic cells in the older population. A key to understanding the biomechanical and functional behaviour of implants in the older population is to control the anticipated modelling and remodelling behaviour through implant design that takes into account how tissues respond to the mechanically active environment. [source]

Bayesian analysis of changes in Radiosonde Atmospheric Temperature

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
Christoph Schleip
Abstract This paper describes long-term changes of global atmospheric temperature, using a strict Bayesian approach which considers three different models to describe the time series: the constant model, the linear model and a change point model. The change point model allows the description of nonlinear annual rates of change with associated confidence intervals. We calculate the probabilities of each of the three models and average finally over these models to obtain the expected functional behaviour and rate of change in temperature with annual resolution. We apply this procedure to a new homogenized Radiosonde Atmospheric Temperature Products for Assessing Climate (RATPAC-A) data set. Annual mean temperature for 13 pressure levels from the surface to 30 hPa is examined. Residual sums of squares reveal that Bayesian-model-averaged function descriptions and rates of changes are especially useful and informative for the surface, troposphere and tropopause and less appropriate for the stratosphere. From the surface up to the tropopause (200,100 hPa), the results reveal that the change point model provides the best data fit. Despite the occurrence of two volcanic eruptions El Chicón (1982) and Mt. Pinatubo (1991), the stratosphere (70,30 hPa) shows a preference for the linear model (60%). The near surface changes exhibit comparatively high change point probability around 1985 and 1995, whereas those at the tropopause level are highest between 1995 and 2000. For the surface and troposphere the model-averaged functional behaviour increases quite constantly, whereas the model-averaged functional behaviour for the tropopause decreases until the end of the 1990s and increases from 2000 onwards. The limitations of the currently used radiosonde data render interpretation of the observed changes difficult. Additionally undetected change points may result from our limited model space. In future it should be tested whether a multiple change point model provides a better data description for the stratosphere. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society [source]

Effect of manufacturing treatments on the rheological character of Mozzarella cheese made from microfiltration retentate depleted of whey proteins,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Randall L. Brandsma
Low-moisture, part-skim (LMPS) Mozzarella cheeses were made from highly concentrated skim milk microfiltration (MF) retentate and butteroil. Differing combinations of rennet concentration, coagulation temperature and post-coagulation curd cutting time were used, with comparisons made of the rheological and functional characteristics of cheeses during ageing. Lubricated squeezing flow, stress relaxation, melt and stretch measurements demonstrated that commercial LMPS Mozzarella had substantial textural and functional change between 7 and 30 days of age, while the rheological and functional behaviour of LMPS MF Mozzarella (MFM) exhibited substantial change between 30 and 60 days of age. Rennet concentration was the only experimental factor to significantly affect MFM rheological and functional development. The delayed development of MFM was partially attributed to inhibition of normal cheese proteolysis via whey protein (WP) incorporation, lack of starter culture protease, and homogenization of MF cheesemilk. Use of starter culture in MFM led to improved rheological and functional behaviour. [source]

Cell wall-associated alpha-glucan is instrumental for Mycobacterium tuberculosis to block CD1 molecule expression and disable the function of dendritic cell derived from infected monocyte

CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 8 2007
Maria Cristina Gagliardi
Summary We previously described an escape mechanism exploited by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to prevent the generation of fully competent dendritic cells (DC). We have now tested the effect of isolated mycobacterial components on human monocyte differentiation into DC and demonstrated that cell wall (CW)-associated alpha-glucan induces monocytes to differentiate into DC (Glu-MoDC) with the same altered phenotype and functional behaviour of DC derived from Mtb-infected monocytes (Mt-MoDC). In fact, Glu-MoDC lack CD1 molecule expression, fail to upregulate CD80 and produce IL-10 but not IL-12. We also showed that Glu-MoDC are not able to prime effector T cells or present lipid antigens to CD1-restricted T-cell clones. Thus, we propose a mechanism of Mtb,monocyte interaction mediated by CW-associated alpha-glucan, which allows the bacterium to evade both innate and acquired immune responses. [source]

Benign lesions of the vocal folds: a masquerade

CLINICAL OTOLARYNGOLOGY, Issue 4 2000
P.J.P. Poels
Objective. The aim of this study is to give an analysis of the nature of benign vocal fold lesions with an indication for microlaryngoscopy that are found in a general ENT clinic. Patients and methods. Retrospectively, pre- and peroperative data from 177 successive patients were examined. Results. The male : female distribution was 1 : 3. Preoperatively, bilateral lesions were found in 53%, changing into 82% at peroperative examination. Nodules, polyps, Reinke's oedema and intracordal lesions,such as sulcus vocalis, vergeture and cysts,were the most frequently found lesions. The intracordale lesions were easily missed at preoperative examination. Half of the patients had occupational voice use. Conclusion. In spite of laryngostroboscopy, the vocal fold lesions could not always be diagnosed correctly. It is recommended to perform a diagnostic microlaryngoscopy in cases of unclear dysphonia and to examine both vocal folds peroperatively. It may be advisable to develop a new terminology for vocal fold lesions, based on their functional behaviour. At this, stroboscopy can be completed by videokymography. [source]