Background In patients with idiopathic scoliosis, the interaction between biological and mechanical factors plays a central role in the evolution of deformities. According to the “vicious cycle model” of scoliosis evolution, the asymmetric load on the spine is the main factor driving the onset and development of deformities by altering the vertebral growth dynamics. Hence, once a critical asymm...

A major part of fracture mechanics is concerned with studying the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks. This typically requires constant monitoring of crack growth during fatigue cycles which necessitates automation of the whole process. If the rate of crack growth can be determined the experimenter can vary externally controlled parameters such as load level, load cycle frequency and s...

Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. LOAD has a complex and largely unknown etiology with strong genetic determinants. Genetics of LOAD is known to involve several genetic risk factors among which the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene seems to be the major recognized genetic determinant. Recent efforts have been made to identify other genetic fact...

temperature is one of the effective parameters in erosion of spark plug electrodes. in this research, temperature of spark plug was measured in engine's different operation conditions with two types of fuels: compressed natural gas and gasoline. test results showed that, temperature of center electrode is lower than ground electrode and maximum difference between them is 110ºc that occurs ...

background and aims: inhibition of viral growth in coinfected cells with two different viruses has been described. this phenomenon known as viral interference can occur in several virus host systems such as interference of enterovirus infection on poliovirus vaccine strains. in this study we superinfected reovirus infected hela cells with poliovirus to determine if poliovirus can replicate in s...

Viable Bordetella pertussis isolates are essential for surveillance purposes. We performed culture of 223 PCR-positive nasopharyngeal samples. B. pertussis was recovered from 45 (20.2%) of the samples. Growth was associated with a high bacterial load, as determined by PCR. Culture from PCR-positive samples is a feasible approach to recover B. pertussis isolates, and culture can be limited to sa...