BACKGROUND House dust mite allergen levels in humid coastal regions of Australia are high, particularly in beds. Because high allergen levels in beds are associated with more severe asthma, reduction of levels may be important for asthma control. OBJECTIVE We tested the effectiveness of an acaricidal treatment of bedding in combination with occlusive mattress and pillow encasings in reducing ...

Humanoid robots have been expected to work as an alternative to human in severe working conditions. In order for humanoid robots to work in the field of civil engineering, construction or disaster-relief, humanoid robots must have ability of walking on uneven terrain such as sand, clay and snow. However, most of studies on biped walking on even or uneven terrain have assumed stiff ground. Biped...

Loose bodies are fragments of cartilage or bone present in the synovial fluid. In the present study we assessed if loose bodies could be used as a source of autologous human chondrocytes for experimental purposes. Histochemical examination of loose bodies and differential enzymatic digestions were undertaken, the isolated cells were cultured in alginate bead microspheres and immunolocalisations...

The use of lithium ceramic pebble beds has been considered in many blanket designs for the fusion reactors. Lithium ceramics have received a significant interest as tritium breeders for the fusion blankets during the last three decades. The thermal performance of the lithium ceramic pebble beds plays a key role for the fusion blankets. In order to study the heat transfer in the blanket, the eff...