Auditory neurons of the anterior forebrain (AF) of zebra finches become selective for song during song learning. In adults, these neurons respond more to the bird's own song (BOS) than to the songs of other zebra finches (conspecifics) or BOS played in reverse. In contrast, AF neurons from young birds (30 d) respond equally well to all song stimuli. AF selectivity develops rapidly during song l...

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a rare, potentially fatal, autoimmune disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes. The PV antigen (PVA) has been characterized as desmoglein 3. PV patients carry HLA-DR4- or HLA-DR6-bearing extended haplotypes. We recently demonstrated that patients with active disease have high titers of PV autoantibodies of the IgG1 and IgG4 subclasses. Patients in remission,...

RATIONALE There is a need to expand knowledge on cardio-pulmonary pathophysiology of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) following lung transplantation (LTx). OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess MRI-derived biventricular cardiac mass and function parameters as well as flow hemodynamics in patients with and without BOS after LTx. METHODS Using 1.5T cardiac MRI, measurement...

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is the most important cause of late mortality following lung transplantation, resulting in major morbidity and a huge burden on healthcare resources. Treatment options are limited, resulting in a mere stabilisation of the lung function decline. Recent introduction of the macrolide antibiotic azithromycin raised new hope after demonstrating lung function i...

Alkali Activated Slag Concrete (AASC) mixes are manufactured by activating ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) using sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions. The aim of the present experimental research was to investigate the effect of increasing the dosages of sodium oxide (Na2O, in the range of 4 to 8%) and the activator modulus (Ms) (i.e. the SiO2/Na2O ratio, in the range of ...

Current blast furnace technology is a two-stage ironmaking process that requires that iron ore concentrate first be formed into pellets, fired at 1260°C, cooled, transported to the blast furnace, and then re-heated to approximately 1500°C to produce pig iron. This heating, cooling, and then reheating wastes a great deal of energy, which would be saved if the ironmaking process had only a single...

Tensile creep of concrete at early ages is one of the important factors that affect the stress of restrained and partly restrained concrete. But only few data are available on tensile creep of concrete. The effect of ground slag on tensile creep was studied using lever-type tensile creep tester. Early age tensile basic creep of concrete loaded at the age of 3 days was researched. Results show t...

In this study, ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) samples from Singapore, Korea, and the United Arab Emirates were hydrated with purified water to estimate the cementing capabilities without activators. Raw GGBFS samples and hardened pastes were characterized to provide rational explanations for the strengths and hydration products. The slag characteristics that influenced the best st...

Auditory neurons of the anterior forebrain (AF) in adult zebra finches are highly selective for the bird's own song (BOS): they respond more to BOS than to songs of other zebra finches (conspecifics) and to BOS played in reverse. In contrast, juvenile AF neurons are not selective at 30 d of age, responding equally well to all song stimuli. Both BOS and tutor song experience are required by juve...

BACKGROUND Long-term lung transplant success is limited by bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), a form of chronic allograft rejection that manifests in the majority of patients by five years post-transplant. Frequent monitoring of pulmonary function measurements through the use of daily home spirometry may have the capability to detect the onset of BOS sooner than standard pulmonary functio...