BACKGROUND We hypothesized that since asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease, it could lead to the early development of atherosclerosis in childhood-onset asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate arterial stiffness, distensibility, and strain of different peripheral arteries, the parameters of which can be used to detect atherosclerosis in asthmatic children. MATERIAL/METHODS We stu...

There have been numerous researchers that have investigated the properties of human intervertebral discs. However, there has been no attempt to characterize the effects of dynamic loading on the compressive stiffness of human lumbar intervertebral discs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop the compressive stiffness properties of lumbar intervertebral discs when subjected to vari...

An objective in vivo measurement technique for assessing the material properties of soft tissue would be a valuabe tool in diagnosing dermatological pathologies. In order to make advancements in this field, a new hand-held device was designed to measure the stiffness of soft materials. The device measures the reaction forces experienced by the soft tissue under constant indentation deformations...

The dynamic, three-dimensional shape of flapping insect wings may influence many aspects of flight performance. Insect wing deformations during flight are largely passive, and are controlled primarily by the architecture and material properties of the wing. Although many details of wing structure are well understood, the distribution of flexural stiffness in insect wings and its effects on wing...

in the present paper, an algorithm is presented for reliability analysis of beams with random material properties under static spatially random loads. the randomness may be due to the employed manufacturing process that leads to components with slightly different microstructures. since the material properties are random, the stiffness matrices and subsequently, the response will be of random na...

Standard asphalt mixtures for road infrastructures consist of natural aggregate and bitumen. A number of research efforts have successfully investigated the possibility of replacing the conventional aggregate skeleton with industrial by-products such as slag originating from steel production process. However, little is known on the effect of steel slag on the mixtures functional performance and...

Magnesium and Arterial Stiffness To The Editor: We read with interest the paper by S. Laurent et al1 dealing with structural and genetic bases of arterial stiffness. The authors reviewed data concerning the heritability of arterial stiffness and propose an integrated view of the structural and genetic determinants of arterial stiffness based on a candidate gene approach and recent studies on ge...