Bead Pattern Research Articles

“Bead to death,” Fibromuscular Dysplasia Presenting as A Rapidly Enlarging Right Anterior Axillary Mass

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a rare non-inflammatory, non-atherosclerotic arterial disease characterized by abnormal cellular proliferation and distorted architecture. It commonly affects the renal and extracranial carotid and vertebral arteries, but nearly all arterial beds may be affected, and multivessel involvement is common. We report a rare case of a 31-year-old Filipino female who presented with a rapidly enlarging right anterior axillary mass. Initial consideration was a bleeding soft tissue sarcoma as seen on chest CT scan, while whole abdominal CT scan with IV contrast revealed incidental findings of multiple aneurysms in the superior mesenteric artery, both renal arteries and right common iliac artery, suggestive of fibromuscular dysplasia. Further vascular imaging studies showed a looped left internal carotid, and a tortuous left brachial artery with beading pattern.

Chumnungwa Glass Beads: New Insights into the Geochemistry, Circulation, and Consumption Patterns of Pre-European Glass Beads in Iron Age Southern Africa, CE 980–1650

Chumnungwa Glass Beads: New Insights into the Geochemistry, Circulation, and Consumption Patterns of Pre-European Glass Beads in Iron Age Southern Africa, CE 980–1650

The relationship between initial retroreflective luminous coefficient, thickness and retroreflection attenuation of thermoplastic markings

This study aims to investigate the effect of thickness and initial retroreflective luminous coefficient (RL) on the retroreflection attenuation of thermoplastic road marking. The road marking with a thickness range of 2.5-3.7 mm were divided into six groups with a 0.2 mm interval to assess the relationship between the initial RL and the retroreflection attenuation. The settlement pattern of glass beads was also investigated for road markings with different thicknesses. Furthermore, the road markings with an initial RL range of 457-492 mcd·lx-1·m-2 and a thickness range of 2.46 ~ 3.42 mm were divided into four groups. The RL values at 7, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days were measured and compared to assess the impact of thickness and initial RL on retroreflection attenuation. It is concluded that the change of RL value is due to the change of glass bead embedment. When the thickness is 3.08 mm and the initial RL is 465.5 mcd·lx-1·m-2, there is a noticeable delay in the retroreflection attenuation.

The Discrepancy of ANA and Compartment Bead Patterns Suggestive of a Neuropsychiatry Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (NPSLE)

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) exhibits neurological and psychiatric manifestations in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, which NPSLE diagnosis can be challenging for rheumatologists. An Indonesian female, 44 years old, complained of two times seizures with 10-min duration, which during seizures were stiff, eyes rolled up, foaming at the mouth, wet the bed, and fainting afterward. The patient also has a history of SLE and received cyclophosphamide therapy 5 years ago. Her clinical condition showed facial and lingual palsy, with central type on the right. Antinuclear antibody indirect immunofluorescence (ANA IF) positive using cytobead ANA with a homogenous pattern and cytoplasmic speckled titer 1/80. Confirmation beads showed positive of dsDNA only. ANA profile showed positive antinucleosome, antihistone, and AMA-M2, and also increased anticardiolipin antibody that supports the diagnosis of NPSLE. The difference in the pattern of ANA IF with confirmation beads suggests the presence of other autoantibodies in NPSLE.

Utilizing principal component analysis in the identification of clinically relevant changes in patient HLA single antigen bead solid phase testing patterns.

HLA antibody testing is essential for successful solid-organ allocation, patient monitoring post-transplant, and risk assessment for both solid-organ and hematopoietic transplant patients. Luminex solid-phase testing is the most common method for identifying HLA antibody specificities, making it one of the most complex immunoassays as each panel contains over 90 specificities for both HLA class I and HLA class II with most of the analysis being performed manually in the vendor-provided software. Principal component analysis (PCA), used in machine learning, is a feature extraction method often utilized to assess data with many variables. In our study, solid organ transplant patients who exhibited HLA donor-specific antibodies (DSAs) were used to characterize the utility of PCA-derived analysis when compared to a control group of post-transplant and pre-transplant patients. ROC analysis was utilized to determine a potential threshold for the PCA-derived analysis that would indicate a significant change in a patient's single antigen bead pattern. To evaluate if the algorithm could identify differences in patterns on HLA class I and HLA class II single antigen bead results using the optimized threshold, HLA antibody test results were analyzed using PCA-derived analysis and compared to the clinical results for each patient sample. The PCA-derived algorithm had a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI, 73.54%-100%), a specificity of 75% (95% CI, 56.30%-92.54%), with a PPV of 65% (95% CI, 52.50%-83.90%) and an NPV of 100%, in identifying new reactivity that differed from the patients historic HLA antibody pattern. Additionally, PCA-derived analysis was utilized to assess the potential over-reactivity of single antigen beads for both HLA class I and HLA class II antibody panels. This assessment of antibody results identified several beads in both the HLA class I and HLA class II antibody panel which exhibit over reactivity from 2018 to the present time. PCA-derived analysis would be ideal to help automatically identify patient samples that have an HLA antibody pattern of reactivity consistent with their history and those which exhibit changes in their antibody patterns which could include donor-specific antibodies, de novo HLA antibodies, and assay interference. A similar method could also be applied to evaluate the over-reactivity of beads in the HLA solid phase assays which would be beneficial for lot comparisons and instructive for transplant centers to better understand which beads are more prone to exhibiting over-reactivity and impact patient care.

Microstructural characterization and mechanical properties of Inconel 625 wall fabricated by GTAW-based WAAM using stringer bead and circular weave pattern

In this work, Inconel 625 alloy was used to manufacture walls using the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) technology, which is based on Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW). The wall was fabricated using a circular weave and stringer bead pattern. Microstructural analysis and tensile characteristics were evaluated for both walls. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and elemental mapping, the fracture zones of the tensile specimens were examined. The microstructure is mostly made up of equiaxed dendrites, with the rare presence of continuous and discontinuous cellular dendrites along the cross-section. In tensile tests, circular weaved walls performed better than stringer bead walls. The circular weave specimen had an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 762 MPa in the horizontal and 722 MPa in the vertical orientations. Also, the Inconel 625 wall showed anisotropic behavior (5.3%) during tensile testing. The fracture morphology analysis revealed that all the specimens were fractured as a result of large plastic deformation, corresponding to ductile failure. Based on the EDS results, the fracture zone mainly consists of Ni and Cr with a small percentage of Nb and Mo. The absence of laves phases makes the fracture mode ductile. The elemental mapping shows uniform dispersion of Ni and Cr within the fracture region, further supporting the ductile failure mode.

Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection Postpartum and Recurrence during Menopause: Hormonal Involvement in Acute Coronary Syndromes

In this case report, we present a case of a 38-year-old woman with no cardiac history and no risk factors who was admitted to the hospital with a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) after pregnancy. Twelve years later, she suffered a recurrent SCAD during her menopause. SCAD is a rare occurrence of acute coronary syndromes and recurrence is even more rare. SCAD seems to occur predominantly in females and seems to be related to hormone levels. At first presentation, the patient was 38 years old and 4 weeks postpartum. She presented with chest pain. Electrocardiogram (ECG) showed loss of r-amplitude but no ST-segment deviation. Troponins were elevated and showed significant rise and fall. She was treated with dual anti-platelet strategy and underwent coronary angiography (CAG) which showed a type 1 dissection of the distal circumflex artery. The lesion was treated conservatively. Second presentation was 12 years later, in which she again presented with chest pain this time during menopause. ECG showed marginal changes and the troponins were again elevated. She underwent CAG again which showed a new SCAD (Type 2 B) in the second marginal obtuse artery. The old SCAD lesion was healed. Renal angiography was preformed which showed an renal bead pattern typical for fibromuscular dysplasia. Again, she was treated conservatively. This case is the first case report of a patient suffering from a recurrent SCAD in a different coronary artery, both events probably related to hormonal changes, that is, postpartum and during menopause. This may emphasize careful examination of chest pain in menopause patients with a history of earlier SCAD.

Characterization of antioxidant Houttuynia cordata extracts loaded polyurethane nanofibers

Herein, we analyzed total polyphenol content, total flavonoid content, and the antioxidant activity of the ethanol and distilled water extracted Houttuynia cordata perennial herb. Later, we investigated the possibility of producing Houttuynia cordata extract (HCE) loaded Polyurethane (PU) nanofibers via the electrospinning technique. The analysis confirmed that the total polyphenol, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity of the ethanol extracted HCE were higher than the distilled water extracted HCE. Therefore, the ethanol extracted HCE was used to prepare HCE/PU nanofibers by varying concentrations of HCE and PU. The HCE/PU nanofibers showed a mixed pattern of beads and fibers at a PU concentration of 10 wt%. However, at 12 wt% PU concentration, relatively uniform nanofibers with an average diameter of about 200 nm were formed at 1.0% and 1.5 wt% of HCE. The successful incorporation of HCE in PU nanofibrous matrix was confirmed by the presence of its characteristic bands in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. The addition of HCE increased the crystallinity, the amount of heat required for pyrolysis, and the thermal stability of HCE/PU nanofibers, which must be credited to the HCE-derived quercitrin and quercetin crystallite solids.

Encapsulation of Carvacrol-Loaded Nanoemulsion Obtained Using Phase Inversion Composition Method in Alginate Beads and Polysaccharide-Coated Alginate Beads.

Nanoemulsions have been widely studied as lipophilic compound loading systems. A low-energy emulsification method, phase inversion composition (PIC), was used to prepare oil-in-water nanoemulsions in a carvacrol-coconut oil/Tween 80®-(linoleic acid-potassium linoleate)/water system. The phase behaviour of several emulsification paths was studied and related to the composition range in which small-sized stable nanoemulsions could be obtained. An experimental design was carried out to determine the best formulation in terms of size and stability. Nanoemulsions with a very small mean droplet diameter (16-20 nm) were obtained and successfully encapsulated to add carvacrol to foods as a natural antimicrobial and antioxidant agent. They were encapsulated into alginate beads by external gelation. In order to improve the carvacrol kinetics release, the beads were coated with two different biopolymers: chitosan and pullulan. All formulations were analysed with scanning electron microscopy to investigate the surface morphology. The release patterns at different pHs were evaluated. Different kinetics release models were fitted in order to study the release mechanisms affecting each formulation. Chitosan-coated beads avoided the initial release burst effect, improving the beads' structure and producing a Fickian release. At basic pH, the chitosan-coated beads collapsed and the pullulan-coated beads moderately improved the release pattern of the alginate beads. For acid and neutral pHs, the chitosan-coated beads presented more sustained release patterns.

Skid Plate Development by using Topography Optimization

The objective of this paper is to show that how the development of skid plate can achieve without increasing the gauge and upgrading the material properties. There are certain factors which can influence the skid plate such as rail width, shape, ground clearance, attachment points, load coming on skid plate and the general shape of the object for which it is the skid plate's design and purpose is to protect (transfer case, fuel tank etc.). This document also covers the CAE procedure to evaluate performance of skid plate for structural integrity under static load condition for vehicles. Bead plays an important role to increase the structural stiffness but challenge is how to decide bead patterns and bead pattern can be achieved by using topography optimization approach. The skid plate should absorb the damage and protect underneath parts and protect vehicle function ability. This paper will demonstrate a few ways to achieve a successful skid plate design while gaining some other unexpected benefits described herein.

Study on the Viability of Canine Nose Pattern as a Unique Biometric Marker.

Simple SummaryThis paper shows that the canine nose pattern, which is an interlocking pattern of beads and grooves on a dog’s nose, is unique to each individual dog. For this purpose, the nose images of 60 dogs were collected at three separate times, each roughly three to four months apart. This longitudinal cohort study was designed to ensure the diversity of data, wherein dogs of diverse age, gender, and breed are well represented in the dataset. In this study, the nose patterns of these dogs were examined visually and by a biometric algorithm to determine the uniqueness of the canine nose pattern. It was found that the canine nose pattern remains invariant through the passage of time during the observation period; and that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each dog. Our finding confirms and enhances the claims of earlier works by others that the canine nose pattern is unique to each animal and serves as a unique biometric marker. For further study, this dataset was augmented by adding to it the nose images of 10 beagle dogs taken once every month in a ten-month period to create an enlarged dataset of 278 images of 70 dogs of 19 breeds. The study with this enlarged dataset also leads to the same conclusion.The uniqueness of the canine nose pattern was studied. A total of 180 nose images of 60 dogs of diverse age, gender, and breed were collected. The canine nose patterns in these images were examined visually and by a biometric algorithm. It was found that the canine nose pattern remains invariant regardless of when the image is taken; and that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each dog. The same study was also performed on an enlarged dataset of 278 nose images of 70 dogs of 19 breeds. The study of the enlarged dataset also leads to the same conclusion. The result of this paper confirms and enhances the claims of earlier works by others that the canine nose pattern is indeed unique to each animal and serves as a unique biometric marker.

돈황 막고굴에 묘사된 연주문 연구

The rounded pearl pattern is composed of continuous round beads, sometimes into strips, arranged on the edge of the main pattern or the fabric, sometimes in a rhombus shape filled with flowers, animals, or other shapes.
 The research method entailed literature research and the analysis of the artifacts of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. The conclusions are as follows: Foreigners mainly influenced the rounded pearl pattern that later became popular in China. At present, most academic researchers believe that it originated from the Sasan Dynasty of Persia. Migrating between different races in the northern Dynasties as the fusion and the contact relations of power in the east and west, east Asia, west Asia culture and arts, interact each other along the silk road, rounded pearl pattern was introduced into China during the Northern Dynasties, and the Chinese people extensively love them. Chinese people based on the main patterns to transform and apply them, at the Sui and Tang Dynasties has become a trendy decoration pattern.
 The research content is limited to the Sui and Tang Dynasties' ornamentation of animals and plants. In other periods, the study of the rounded pearl pattern mainly focuses on the filaments of the rounded pearl pattern and grotto temple patterns from Wei, Jin to Sui, and Tang Dynasties. This study sorted out rounded pearl patterns and included geometric figures, such as straight lines, bow, wheel, rectangle, and polygon. These pictures include a variety of different patterns, like animals and flowers. Under the influence of Sassanian civilization, the bead pattern appeared in the Northern Dynasty, which was very simple. The pattern gradually became more and more complex when the Sui Dynasty reached its peak. Entering the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the bead pattern slowly diminished and became monotonous again.

Active elasticity drives the formation of periodic beading in damaged axons.

In several pathological conditions, such as coronavirus infections, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, the physiological shape of axons is altered and a periodic sequence of bulges appears. Experimental evidences suggest that such morphological changes are caused by the disruption of the microtubules composing the cytoskeleton of the axon. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model of damaged axons based on the theory of continuum mechanics and nonlinear elasticity. The axon is described as a cylinder composed of an inner passive part, called axoplasm, and an outer active cortex, composed mainly of F-actin and able to contract thanks to myosin-II motors. Through a linear stability analysis we show that, as the shear modulus of the axoplasm diminishes due to the disruption of the cytoskeleton, the active contraction of the cortex makes the cylindrical configuration unstable to axisymmetric perturbations, leading to a beading pattern. Finally, the nonlinear evolution of the bifurcated branches is investigated through finite element simulations.

Measuring Droplets Expelled During Endoscopy to Investigate COVID-19 Transmission Risk

Measuring Droplets Expelled During Endoscopy to Investigate COVID-19 Transmission Risk

Asymmetric instability in thin-film flow down a fiber

Experiments show that thin film flow down a fiber exhibits beading patterns whose symmetry about the fiber depends upon the fiber diameter and liquid surface tension. Both symmetric and asymmetric morphologies exhibit absolute (isolated, Plateau-Rayleigh) and convective instabilities, with the asymmetric beading dynamics resembling that of the free viscous jet indicating a minimal interaction between the liquid and fiber.

Influence of thermal environment on metallographic structure characteristics of the electric arc bead pattern

Electrical apparatuses are prone to arc, which generally causes a fire, even an explosion hazard, when a flammable gas mixture is present, especially during industrial processes. Terrible fire scenes are challenging for fire investigations. In this work, by performing a simultaneous thermal analysis test we simulated a fire environment and found that as the oxygen concentration decreased, the oxidation/exothermic peak temperature of ‘cause’ bead became higher, but the melting temperature was unaffected. Results indicated that the bead pattern underwent oxidation at approximately 831 °C, melting initiated at approximately 1060 °C, and the pattern then disappeared. The melted pattern grain changes were divided into three critical temperature stages: Approximately 600 °C, the onset temperature at which the melted pattern grains began to be equiaxed; approximately 831 °C, at which the grains were interspersed with oxygen-containing material; and 831–1060 °C, when the grains disappeared, which is a criterion for identifying electrical fires. However, the boundaries remained throughout the thermal environment process. Moreover, the bead pattern demonstrated three metallographic regions: Deep layer (Region I), the intermediate layer (Region Ⅱ), and surface layer (Region Ⅲ). Region I was the most thermally sensitive, in which equiaxed crystals first appeared. Region Ⅲ was the thermal reaction lag zone, in which the typical branching crystals finally disappeared, and Region Ⅱ was intermediate between Regions I and Ⅲ. The results may help fire investigators determine the fire scene temperature stages and provide support for fire evidence extraction.

Quantitative corneal neural imaging using in vivo confocal microscopy in cases of congenital corneal anesthesia: A prospective analysis and clinical correlation.

Purpose:Congenital corneal anesthesia (CCA) is a rare clinical entity that poses a diagnostic dilemma, particularly in the pediatric age group with very little literature on this. Accurate initial diagnosis, evaluation, early identification of risk factors, aggressive systemic workup, and appropriate therapy are paramount to prevent visual loss due to long-term complications of corneal anesthesia. The purpose of the study was to estimate and compare the corneal neural architecture using real time, in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) in patients with CCA as against a control population.Methods:This was a retrospective nonconsecutive, comparative clinical case series in a tertiary hospital in South India from June 2015 to December 2018.Methods:IVCM was accomplished in cooperative children in whom central cornea was relatively clear. The clearest three to five images from each eye were selected, and the nerves were analyzed for length, thickness, density, dichotomous pattern, and beading. Statistical analysis was done using Origin v7.0 (Origin Lab Corporation, Northampton, MA, USA).Results:In total, 15 eyes of 11 cases and 20 eyes of 10 controls were imaged. Measurements on corneal nerve density showed a significant difference (P = 0.0005), cases having a lower mean (3.85 ± 1.38 mm per mm2) compared to the controls (6.74 ± 1.75 mm per mm2). Measurements on corneal nerve length (P = 0.28), thickness (P = 0.45), and presence of beading (P = 0.97) and dichotomous pattern (P = 0.07) did not reveal a significant difference between cases and controls.Conclusion:There is a strong relationship between the functional loss (absent corneal sensation) and anatomical decrease (reduced subbasal nerve density) of corneal nerves in congenital corneal anaesthesia.

CFD Study on Impeller Effect on Mixing in Miniature Stirred Tank Reactor

Mixing of fluid can happen in existence or absence of impeller which will affect the mixing performance. The hydrodynamics behavior of fluid has a strong effect on the mixing. The design of mixing systems and operation using the agitated tanks is complicated because it is difficult to obtain accurate information for turbulence’s impeller induced. Computational Fluid Dynamics can be used to provide a detailed comprehension of those systems. This paper describes the effect of various designs of impeller in miniature stirred tank reactor towards the mixing of the calcium alginate beads with the milk using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, ANSYS Fluent 19.2. The four different type of impellers are edge beater, 5-turbine blade, t-shape, and paddle. The impeller was simulated at different speeds of 150 rpm, 250 rpm, and 300 rpm. K-epsilon turbulence model was employed to simulate the flow distribution pattern of calcium alginate beads and the Multiple Reference Frame approach was used for the impeller rotation’s simulation. The simulation results obtained have a good agreement with the experimental results in term of vortex formation. The simulation results obtained for contour plots were fitted well with the experimental results as well as with pattern of impeller flow which was also studied. As a result, an optimal design of the impeller that is able to produce good mixing can be achieved using CFD analysis. The results obtained after performing the simulation proved that edge beater blade outperformed the other impellers and took the least time to fully distribute the calcium alginate beads in the tank at 250 rpm compared to 150 and 300 rpm. It can also be concluded that the edge beater blade is the best for the mixing of two-phase fluid and also produces mixed pattern flow. The obtained results from CFD can also be used to scale up the mixing process in larger systems.

A Basic Study for Manufacturing High Refractive Beads from the Waste Fluorescent Glass

This study was carried out to get the optimum conditions for manufacturing high refractive glass beads from waste fluorescent lamp glass. Chemical composition, X-ray diffraction pattern, particle size distribution, refractive index of glass beads, and the effect of air mixing ratio and ejection rate were investigated. The obtained results are as follows. The X-ray diffraction pattern and chemical composition of glass beads made of waste fluorescent glass are similar to common glass except ReO2 0.0108 wt%, BaO 0.071 wt%, NiO 0.0039 wt% and CaO 7.8 wt% but 11.7 wt% of common glass. The glass beads made of waste fluorescent lamp glass have the narrower particle size distribution of and the higher refractive index than the glass beads made of common glass. The optimal conditions of kiln operation for manufacturing glass beads from waste fluorescent lamp glass are 20 m/sec of ejection rate, 1.7 of air mixing ratio, and 940°C of temperature.

Adipose Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Induce Proliferation of Schwann Cells via Internalization.

Recent studies showed a beneficial effect of adipose stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (ADSC-EVs) on sciatic nerve repair, presumably through Schwann cell (SC) modulation. However, it has not yet been elucidated whether ADSC-EVs exert this supportive effect on SCs by extracellular receptor binding, fusion to the SC membrane, or endocytosis mediated internalization. ADSCs, ADSC-EVs, and SCs were isolated from rats and characterized according to associated marker expression and properties. The proliferation rate of SCs in response to ADSC-EVs was determined using a multicolor immunofluorescence staining panel followed by automated image analysis. SCs treated with ADSC-EVs and silica beads were further investigated by 3-D high resolution confocal microscopy and live cell imaging. Our findings demonstrated that ADSC-EVs significantly enhanced the proliferation of SCs in a time- and dose-dependent manner. 3-D image analysis revealed a perinuclear location of ADSC-EVs and their accumulation in vesicular-like structures within the SC cytoplasm. Upon comparing intracellular localization patterns of silica beads and ADSC-EVs in SCs, we found striking resemblance in size and distribution. Live cell imaging visualized that the uptake of ADSC-EVs preferentially took place at the SC processes from which the EVs were transported towards the nucleus. This study provided first evidence for an endocytosis mediated internalization of ADSC-EVs by SCs and underlines the therapeutic potential of ADSC-EVs in future approaches for nerve regeneration.