Antenatal corticosteroids and neurodevelopmental outcomes in late preterm births

ObjectivesAntenatal corticosteroids (ACS) decrease neonatal mortality and morbidity among preterm neonates, yet there has been concern regarding their long-term safety. We hypothesised that potential long-term adverse effects of ACS may be observed among infants born during the late preterm period (LPT, 340/7–366/7 weeks of gestation), when the benefits of ACS are subtle.DesignPopulation-based, retrospective cohort.SettingOntario, Canada, between 2006 and 2011.PatientsAll live singleton infants born during the LPT period with a minimum 5-year follow-up.InterventionsExposure to ACS prior to 340/7 weeks of gestation.Main outcome measuresSuspected neurocognitive disorder, audiometry testing or visual testing.ResultsOverall, 25 668 infants were eligible for analysis, of whom 2689 (10.5%) received ACS. Infants in the ACS group had lower mean birth weight and higher rates of birth weight <10th percentile, neonatal resuscitation and neonatal intensive care unit admission. At 5 years of age, ACS exposure was associated with an increased risk of suspected neurocognitive disorder (adjusted HR (aHR) 1.12, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.20), audiometry testing (aHR 1.20, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.31) and visual testing (aHR 1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.11).ConclusionIn children born during the LPT period, exposure to ACS prior to 340/7 weeks of gestation is associated with an increased utilisation of the healthcare system related to audiometry and visual testing and suspected neurocognitive disorders by 5 years of age.

Observational study of visual testing efficacy in detecting cannabis usage

Drug recognition and examination programs are widely used to detect drug impairment in motor vehicle operators. Visual tests are a key assessment in the detection of cannabis-related impairment. Participants were recruited via social media from the medical cannabis community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Twenty-two participants completed the full observational trial design. The majority (n = 13 or 59.1%) were male, with a mean age of 36 years (SD = 9.4; range: 24–59). Participants underwent the following protocol: 1) First round of testing (vital signs, bio sample collection, visual tests, subjective data, neurocognitive testing) (Baseline phase); 2) Consumption of cannabis via inhalation; 3) Second round of testing 30 minutes following consumption (THC phase); 4) Additional rounds of testing at 90, 150, and 210 minutes following consumption (Recovery phase). Visual assessment data and vital signs did not follow typical patterns associated with acute cannabis intoxication. With blood THC levels more than double the Canadian legal limit (5 ng/mL), visual testing results were not diagnostic for cannabis impairment, as participants maintained normal pupil sizes and normal ocular convergence patterns. Visual testing is a key component in standardized examinations used for detecting cannabis-related impairment in Canadian drivers; however, our data indicate that visual testing may not be an effective diagnostic tool for the specific population of medical cannabis users.

Advances in applications of non-destructive testing (NDT): a review

Manufacturing defects and discontinuities in a product are anomalies which can lead to severe damages which may sometimes involve loss of life. These defects must be examined and corrected before the product goes into service. There are two methods of testing a product for defects and discontinuities viz. Destructive Testing and Non-Destructive Testing. Destructive Testing entails subjecting the product to conditions that leads to failure of the product whereas Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is the process of examining the products for defects in a way in which it retains its usefulness for future service. This paper discusses various methods involved in NDT such as Visual Testing, Magnetic Particle Inspection, Penetrant Testing, Ultrasonic Testing, Radiographic Testing, Acoustic Emission and Eddy Current Testing with a major focus on advances in the applications of NDT.

Automated Visual Testing of Application User Interfaces Using Static Analysis of Screenshots

Mobile and web applications must operate and be displayed correctly on many different devices and browsers. The visual testing of web or mobile applications is usually a manual process that requires a significant amount of testing time, meaning that applications are tested only on a few devices. It is then assumed that the applications will be displayed correctly on other compatible or similar devices. This paper presents an automated visual testing method for user interfaces. The main contributions of this paper are a classification scheme for visual defects of user interfaces and the definition of an automatic visual testing method that tests applications on many different devices with varying hardware and software parameters. The method is based on an automated search for defects using heuristic and expected state prediction algorithms, which involves analyzing the resources used by applications and screenshots. The testing method works by executing applications on a full set of devices, taking a screenshot at every execution step, and analyzing each of these screenshots. The manual as well as automated testing approaches were validated on 781 of Android applications. The experimental results show that the proposed method has advantages over manual testing.

Mechanical Properties, Structure and Fracture Behavior of Additive Manufactured FFF-ABS Specimens

The Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) method is one of the most important additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. This technology is used today with various kinds of thermoplastic materials, including ABS. The present study deals with the flexural strength and axial deflection of ABS specimens versus relative density, to observe the influence of build-orientations, build model and microscopic level defects of these properties. In this study, the mechanical and structural characterization of AM-FFF ABS material was studied by CAD modelling of different orientations, three point bending mechanical testing, visual testing, and multifocal light microscopy observation, including fractography analysis. To that end, three different standard building orientations (Flat, On Edge and Upright) were printed, and each was built in two different angle orientations (-45o/+45o and 0°/90o). Based on the three point bending testing results, it was found that the specimen with the highest flexural strength was not necessarily the one with the highest deflection. It was also observed that On Edge 0/+90o orientations showed a relatively larger flexural strength difference in comparison to other building orientations (Flat and Upright). When the mechanical properties achieved from a bending test next to the building platform were compared to the properties far from the building platform, only a slight difference was found, which means that the flexural strength difference results from the building strategy and it is not related to the specific bending surface. Based on fractography observation, there is a major difference in the mechanical properties and fracture surface appearance, when the samples are bent between the layers (Upright orientation) or when the samples are bent through the layers (Flat and On Edge orientation).

INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT ASSEMBLIES ON PRE-HEATING THE HSLA SAR 80T STEEL ON COATED ELECTRODE WELDING

The present work evaluated the influence of assemblies other than preheating in the welding process obtained by coated electrode, using high strength and low alloy steel SAR 80T as the base metal and the AWS E7018 electrode as the addition metal. In order to prevent cracks, preheating and interpassing for low alloy steel was performed. Depending on the way the preheating equipment is installed, it may take more or less time to reach the preheat temperature. Different assembly arrangements for top joints were evaluated, aiming at cost reduction, in addition to evaluations of the mechanical properties of the joint. Visual testing, ultrasound, micrography, macrography and cross-sectional traction were performed. The results obtained were considered acceptable and showed that there was an influence on time, cost of preheating and resistance to impact.

Visual Impairment at Age 85 Predicts Subsequent Cognitive Decline at Age 90

Although the impact of visual impairment (VI) upon functional status and mortality among older people is recognized, its relationship to cognitive function is unclear. We examined the association between VI and subsequent cognitive decline from age 85-90 among subjects from the Jerusalem Longitudinal Study (1990-2020), which follows a representative study sample born 1920-21. Assessment at age 85 (2005) and age 90 (2010) included Snellen visual testing and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) for 488 subjects. VI was defined as corrected best eye vision ≤ 40/60. Dementia was defined as MMSE ≤24/30, after visually-dependent items (drawing, writing, reading) were excluded from the MMSE, and the score (maximum=27) was corrected to a maximum of 30 by multiplying by a factor of 1.111. At age 85 frequency of VI was 40.1% (198/488) and 86.9% (424/488) of subjects were non-demented (MMSE ≥24/30). Between ages 85-90 the mean decline in MMSE among all subjects with VI vs. non-VI was 5.2±7.7 vs. 3.9±6.7 (p=0.053), among non-demented subjects was 5.2±7.8 vs. 3.5±6.3 (p=0.002), and the transition to dementia was 34% vs. 20% (p=0.004) respectively. In logistic regression analysis among non-demented subjects at age 85, the unadjusted odds ratio (OR) for transition to dementia by age 90 associated with VI at age 85 was OR 1.95, 95%CI 1.24-3.06, p&lt;0.01, and after adjusting for gender, years of education, depression and diabetes, the adjusted OR was 1.74, 95%CI 1.09-2.76, p&lt;0.05. In conclusion, visual impairment at age 85 is independently associated with subsequent cognitive decline and the development of dementia.

Laser Dissimilar Welding of AISI 430F and AISI 304 Stainless Steels

A dissimilar autogenous laser welded joint of AISI 430F (X12CrMoS17) martensitic stainless steel and AISI 304 (X5CrNi18-10) austenitic stainless steel was manufactured. The welded joint was examined by non-destructive visual testing and destructive testing by macro- and microscopic examination and hardness measurements. With reference to the ISO 13919-1 standard the welded joint was characterized by C level, due to the gas pores detected. Microscopic observations of AISI 430F steel revealed a mixture of ferrite and carbides with many type II sulfide inclusions. Detailed analysis showed that they were Cr-rich manganese sulfides. AISI 304 steel was characterized by the expected austenitic microstructure with banded δ-ferrite. Martensitic microstructure with fine, globular sulfide inclusions was observed in the weld metal. The hardness in the heat-affected zone was increased in the martensitic steel in relation to the base metal and decreased in the austenitic steel. The hardness range in the weld metal, caused by chemical inhomogeneity, was 184–416 HV0.3.