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The thalassaemias are a group of genetic disorders of haemoglobin which are endemic in the tropics but are now found worldwide due to migration. Basic standard of care therapy includes regular transfusions to maintain a haemoglobin level of around 10 g/dL, together with iron chelation therapy to prevent iron overload. Novel therapies, bone marrow transplantation, and gene therapy are treatment options that are unavailable in many countries with stressed economies. This Wider Perspectives article presents the strategies for management of an adolescent refugee patient with beta thalassaemia, as it would be performed by expert haematologists in six countries: Italy, Lebanon, Oman, the Sudan, Thailand and the United States. The experienced clinicians in each country have adapted their practice according to the resources available, which vary greatly. Even in the current modern era, providing adequate transfusions and chelation is problematic in many countries. On the other hand, ensuring adherence to therapy, particularly during adolescence, is a similar challenge seen in all countries. The concluding section highlights the disparities in available therapies and puts the role of novel therapies into a societal context.

Acceleration-based sensors are widely used in indicating the severity of damage caused to structural buildings during dynamic events. The force rate of change is of interest when investigating the effect of seismic waves on structural elements, and hence the calculation of the jerk is necessary. For most sensors, the technique used for measuring the jerk (m/s3) is based on differentiating the time–acceleration signal. However, this technique is prone to errors especially in small amplitude and low frequency signals, and is deemed not suitable when online feedback is required. Here, we show that direct measurement of the jerk can be achieved using a metal cantilever and a gyroscope. In addition, we focus on the development of the jerk sensor for seismic vibrations. The adopted methodology optimized the dimensions of an austenitic stainless steel cantilever and enhanced the performance in terms of sensitivity and the jerk measurable range. We found, after several analytical and FE analyses, that an L-35 cantilever model with dimensions 35 × 20 × 0.5 (mm3) and a natural frequency of 139 (Hz) has a remarkable performance for seismic measurements. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the L-35 jerk sensor has a constant sensitivity value of 0.05 ((deg/s)/(G/s)) with ±2% error in the seismic frequency bandwidth of 0.1~40 (Hz) and for amplitudes in between 0.1 and 2 (G). Furthermore, the theoretical and experimental calibration curves show linear trends with a high correlation factor of 0.99 and 0.98, respectively. These findings demonstrate the enhanced sensitivity of the jerk sensor, which surpasses previously reported sensitivities in the literature.

The objective of this paper is to elucidate the role of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) as a marker of treatment response in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Most patients diagnosed with cHL can be cured today but about 20–30% still experience refractoriness/relapse. Positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to not be the optimal tool, since 15–20% of patients relapse despite negative PET. There is an unmet need for new markers to predict response to treatment as early as possible and for surveillance of patients after completion of treatment to allow prompt intervention in case of signs of evolving relapse. Literature regarding the role of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) in cHL was searched and 13 studies between 2005 and 2020 with a total of 1433 patients were identified and reviewed. Reviewed studies suggest that TARC is one of the most promising markers, which can be used to improve treatment outcome in cHL.

The evaluation of hardened concrete quality became significantly important as a result of the continuous and increasing demand on concrete. Mechanical rebound hammer is a quick non-destructive evaluation method used to test the performance of hardened concrete onsite to assure the quality of newly casted concrete or asses the performance of old concrete elements. However, rebound hammer values have uncertainty problems in detecting concrete stiffness and are less reliable. In addition, the device performance is degraded with time due to the fatigue of the mechanical spring. Consequently, this paper presents a new methodology for developing the current measurement technique of Schmidt hammer by using a jerk sensor. Jerk sensors are used in the field of analytical dynamics which includes sensing of acceleration and rate of change of force. The sensor idea is based on using a gyroscope fixed at the free end of a metal cantilever. A cantilever (L-18) of dimensions 18x5x0.5 [mm] and natural frequency 202 [Hz] was designed and modeled using ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) software. Modal and harmonic analyses were conducted to determine the sensor sensitivity for input jerk. The sensor was applied by constructing a finite element model (FEM) of the mass-spring system inside Schmidt hammer and attaching the sensor to the hammer mass. The correlation relationship between the sensor response and the stiffness modulus of concrete was examined by conducting a transient analysis simulating the Schmidt hammer test of 6 cubic concrete specimens of different grades 20, 30, 37, 45, 50 and 60 [MPa]. Each concrete grade has a different modulus of elasticity. FEA results showed that the L-18 cantilever model has a constant jerk sensitivity of 0.047 [(deg/s)/(G/s)] in the bandwidth 0.1~60 [Hz] and a maximum sensitivity of 1.0 [(deg/sec)/(G/s)] at impact (resonance). The predicted input jerk and output angular velocity are in phase. In addition, the results proved that the stiffness modulus of concrete can be evaluated more efficiently at the impact instant using the rate of change of impact force rather than the rebound distance.

Aluminum/steel electric transition joints (ETJs) are used in aluminum reduction cell for the purpose of welding aluminum rod and steel bracket components. Solid state welding process used for joining aluminum and steel at the electric transition joints have the drawbacks of cracking and separation at the interface surfaces. Cracking and separation at the electric transition joints are caused by the stress singularities that developed due to the mismatch in thermal and mechanical properties of each material. To overcome the drawback of electric transition joints, aluminum/steel functionally graded may be used as electric transition joints or proposed. Therefore manufacturing and investigation of aluminum/steel functionally graded materials fabricated by powder metallurgy process were carried out through the current work. Different samples with different layers of aluminum/steel functionally graded materials were compacted using steel die and punch at the same compacted pressure and sintered temperature. After investigating the different samples of aluminum/steel functionally graded materials under different fabrication conditions, the suitable fabrication regime was determined with the aid of microscopic observations.