Assays to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) have multiple clinically important applications in management of multiple types of gastrointestinal cancers. Different methodologies of ctDNA detection have varying sensitivities and potential applications in different contexts. For patients with localized cancers treated for curative intent, ctDNA detection is associated with prognosis in multiple cancer types, and persistent detection of ctDNA after surgical resection is highly concerning for minimal residual disease (MRD) and forebodes impending radiographic and clinical recurrence. CtDNA assays for comprehensive genomic profiling (CGPs) enable genotyping of cancers in the absence of tumor tissue data, and longitudinal testing can also characterize clonal evolution and emergence of putative resistance mechanisms upon treatment with targeted agents. These applications have proven instructive in patients with HER2-amplified gastric and esophageal cancers and in patients with FGFR2 fusion cholangiocarcinomas. In this review, we summarize data supporting the role of ctDNA as a novel predictive and prognostic biomarker and potential impacts on current management of patients with pancreatic, gastroesophageal, and hepatobiliary cancers.


In a open multicenter study 10034 women received a low-dose triphasic combination of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol for contraception. This treatment continued for 3 months and during this time incidence of side effects were documented by reports of the patients or in reply to questions of the gynecologists involved. Data has been analyzed with special attention to smoking obesity and increase of blood pressure. Upon inquiry 38.1% of women had complaints before and 28.5% after treatment with this OC whereas in 16.9% of patients complaints were noted for the 1st time. The observable side effects were more pronounced in cigarette smokers in obese women rather than those of normal weight and in those with higher blood pressure. Cycles became regular whereas the number of spottings increased. Dysmenorrhea disappeared almost completely. During the same interval genital infections were less prominent. During treatment 26 patients (0.26%) became pregnant. It is concluded that this triphasic combination with its varying ratios of ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel is effective and well-tolerated. It is also shown that the incidence of side effects is affected by additional risk factors. (authors modified) (summaries in GER ENG)


sonal style. At an average of forty-five minutes focusing on one interview subject, Cvetkovic is able to plumb the depths of their personal experience in dressing: all three subjects cite their fathers as catalysts for early interests in clothing. The conversational and unscripted edit of these discussions allows the telling parts of oral testimony, the pauses and the exclamations, to speak volumes. The pleasure or distaste the interviewees feel for certain garments, the excitement about the discovery of a new inspiration is captured in the tenor and content of their telling. Episodes '#32 Scott Fraser Simpson' and '#33 Andr e Larnyoh' spend time examining the cultural touchpoints they consider stylish (examples include Miles Davis, Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Mod scene in Brighton and Anthony Minghella's 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley). In '#39 Fred Nieddu', the subject's varied prior experience, working in multi-brand retail shops and apprenticing in different tailoring houses, coheres in his current practice where he insists on an open mind toward construction techniques, drawing from outside the traditional British methods of Savile Row. The strength of both podcasts ultimately lies in using oral testimony to highlight how the individual, personal experience of dress can speak to larger societal constructs. Articles of Interest episode '#10 Suits' begins and ends with Rae Tuturo of custom suit maker Bindle & Keep discussing the sense of self they found in suiting and how they parlayed that into a business that aimed to dress any gender. Episode '#3 Pockets' questions what tools might be necessary for us to carry if we lived in a more equitable society — would housekeys matter if there were no fear of theft driving us to lock our doors? In episode #33 of Handcut Radio, Cvetkovic posits that style inspiration should not be drawn just from the dress habits of an individual, but also their wider ethics and behaviour. Toward the end of that same interview, Larnyoh poses an open question to the audience, formed from his own experience feeling isolated in the world of tailoring and luxury: why are black designers and style personalities not included at the forefront of 'menswear'? While taking different approaches, Articles of Interest as a narrative journey through concepts of dress and Handcut Radio as the musings and autobiographies of dressed individuals, both podcasts provide profound insights into the experience and meaning of being dressed.


W ha hat characteristics best describe a successful conductor? Certainly fine musicianship is one of the first attributes that comes to mind, as well as excellent organizational and disciplinary skills. The successful conductor is also seen as someone who can put together a musically satisfying program and demonstrate musical growth in his or her students. But there is more to successful leadership than producing a worthy product. Conductors (and that includes most music educators) can and should have a transforming impact on their students. The model of the "transformational leader" is a topic on the cutting edge of leadership theory. Data on the characteristics of highly successful leaders in business and other types of organizations have been collected and their common characteristics have been described by numerous authors. According to these researchers, the transformational leader ranks the highest in effectiveness and financial success, as well as in employee and customer loyalty.


Team-based learning (TBL) is a collaborative learning method that has been successfully adopted across a number of disciplines since its inception in the early 1970s. This article provides an exploration as to how it has been implemented and why it has not been adopted by arts-based disciplines on quite the same scale as those of scientific, medical, engineering and business-related subjects. The findings indicate that the time required to design a TBL course is a major hindrance to adoption. Other factors such as students' reluctance to engage with the unfamiliar, unsuitable working spaces; the lack of guidance as to how to design the integral problem-solving exercises; an institutional culture not open to adopting new working practices and limited empirical evidence of the impact of TBL in arts and creative disciplines such as scriptwriting are all reasons given as to why TBL has not crossed wholesale into the study of arts-based subjects. Students are changing and it is therefore imperative that as educators we investigate and discover new ways to teach scriptwriting and arts-based subjects that meet the needs of the requirements of future generations.


A complete microwave power transmission system for a long-endurance, high-altitude (60,000 ft.) airship is described. The system includes an electronically steerable, active phased-array consisting of thousands of identical radiating modules to beam the power, and a light weight, thin-film rectenna mounted on the underside of the airship to absorb and rectifying the incoming microwave power. Application to an airplane is also discussed.


The present invention relates to an arrangement (1) for the treatment of a polymerizable material (12) comprising at least one gas-injection device (2) for introducing a gas (11) in the polymerizable material (12) and a heater (3) for heating the gas (11) provided with the polymerizable material (12), characterized in that the heating device (3) is designed such that the polymerizable material (12) flows through the heater (3) via an inlet (4) counter to the force of gravity (9), and means are provided for uniform distribution of the gas (11) via the inlet (4). The invention also relates to a method of heating a polymerizable material, a device for producing (meth) acrylic acid and a method for producing high purity (meth) acrylic acid.


Goien, Figgins, and Siiieltzetlrlve successfully accomplished an ambitious undcrtaking-creating a valual)le supplement not (mly to business communication courses, but also to &dquo;courses in managerial, organizational. and interpersonal communications. This is a good hook. You'l) find that many of the ailiciesiild cases are useful in your courses. In addition, you'll appreciate that the text is cross-referenced


The management of the Quality of Service (QoS) to meet key constraints has never been more crucial on board the aircraft as today, due to high-demand of bandwidth and low loss requirements for the running applications such as control, sensors, and communications. Although traditional airborne networks provide through manual control differentiated QoS levels for each type of traffic and resource allocation. However, application traffic has a dynamic nature and it is impacted by the mobility of the aircraft. An adaptive Bandwidth manager based on real-time traffic is necessary to enhance the performance of the aircraft network and improve the efficiency of the end-system applications. This paper provides a bandwidth management application running on top of the SDN controller and ensuring the QoS policy fulfillment for the aircraft critical and non-critical services. Any violation of the initial Bandwidth policy will trigger a reaction from the Bandwidth manager application. As a proof of concept, simulation and discussion of different scenarios will be also provided.


This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team of international Entrepreneurship researchers. In this vignette, Professor Per Davidsson reports on the conclusions from a review of available studies of "high ‐ growth firms" or "gazelles".


Most cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) not associated with HIV infection have occurred in patients with acute leukemia who were treated with chemotherapy [1]. PCP that is associated with low-grade lymphoid malignancies (LGLM) is uncommon [2]. Granulomatous response to pneumocystis infection is unusual and is presumably related to immune deficits; such a response may suggest another process, such as mycobacterial infection, with different therapeutic implications. We report two cases of granulomatous PCP in patients with LGLM who were previously treated with chemotherapy. Both cases underscore the diagnostic dilemmas these patients can pose. Patient 1. A 74-year-old man with Rai stage I chronic lymphocytic leukemia was treated with cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone after prolymphocytic transformation occurred. Following the third cycle of chemotherapy, he presented with fever and pancytopenia. A chest radiograph revealed new pulmonary nodules, which increased in size despite hematopoietic recovery. Examination of specimens obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and transthoracic needle biopsy was nondiagnostic. An open lung biopsy was performed, and examination of specimens revealed necrotizing granulomas (figure I) with intragranulomatous P. carinii. The results of all other microbiological studies were negative. Serology for HIV-1 was negative. Quantification ofT-lymphocyte subsets was not performed. Oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) therapy (six double-strength tablets per day) was poorly tolerated; the patient had nausea and anorexia and developed progressive pulmonary disease while receiving therapy. The results of open lung biopsy again showed intragranulomatous P. carinii. Therapy was changed to oral dapsone/trimethoprim; the patient subsequently received a 21-day course ofatovaquone, during which his condition improved clinically. Patient 2. A 57-year-old man with progressive small lymphocytic lymphoma was treated with fludarabine. Three courses of therapy were well tolerated, with the exception of an episode of presumed fludarabine-associated pneumonitis that resolved when the patient was treated with corticosteroids. Therapy was changed to that with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone because the disease continued to progress. Soon after this regimen was begun, the patient developed diffuse interstitial and alveolar infiltrates. Examination of specimens obtained by BAL and transbronchial biopsy revealed only chronic interstitial pneumonitis.


Abstract Recent fieldwork carried out for the study of the lichen flora in the Upper Douro region (north-east Portugal) has resulted in a remarkable collection of Peltula specimens, including one new species (Peltula lobata J. Marques, M. Schultz & Paz-Berm.), three new species records for mainland Europe [Peltula bolanderi (Tuck.) Wetmore, Peltula farinosa Büdel and Peltula zahbruckneri (Hasse) Wetmore] and seven species new for mainland Portugal, that are reported here with a notes on their morphology and currently known distribution. The new species Peltula lobata is differentiated from any other known Peltula species by its thallus shape and size, presence of large, sessile apothecia with widely opened discs and by a complete absence of soredia. Identical specimens were also obtained from the nearby locality of Siega Verde in the province of Salamanca, and from the southern locality of Abla in the province of Almeria, both in Spain. New insights into the morphological diversity of Peltula euploca and Peltula bolanderi are also provided. The region is revealed to be a hotspot for Peltula diversity and a very promising area for further research on the morphological and molecular variation among the former species. A revised key to European species of the genus is also presented.


This paper provides a sense of the limitations found in the conduction of "Youth Project", an IDB-funded professional training program that, designed in Bue...


We design a suspended inversely tapered silicon strip waveguide for high degree self-similar picosecond pulse compression. A 1.5-ps input pulse at wavelength 2250 nm is compressed to 46.73 fs in a 2.79-cm long waveguide taper.


A simple and accurate graphical method for calculating the magnification factors of a target lesion on stereotactic-framed orthogonal angiographic films has been developed for radiosurgery of arteriovenous malformation. This graphical method can be accurately applied to different orientations of the orthogonal angiography and can be used as a routine double-check tool against computer program.


The objective of this paper is to analyze the overall users' satisfaction with preschool institutions, and the correlation between different socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and their satisfaction with the obtained services. A survey was conducted in seven towns and municipalities in the Province of Vojvodina in Serbia, including 7798 parents of children using preschool services. The research instrument was a questionnaire composed based on similar surveys of user satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis served as the tool in analyzing the relationship between the users' socio-economic background and overall satisfaction with services. Overall parent satisfaction with preschool education services appears lower among respondents with higher education, those who participate in the costs of preschool services and those living in urban areas.


The possibility to isolate canine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from foetal adnexa is interesting since several canine genetic disorders are reported to resemble similar dysfunctions in humans. In this study, we successfully isolated, cytogenetically and molecularly characterized, and followed the differentiation potency of canine MSCs from foetal adnexa, such as amniotic fluid (AF), amniotic membrane (AM), and umbilical cord matrix (UCM). In the three types of cell lines, the morphology of proliferating cells typically appeared fibroblast‐like, and the population doubling time (DT) significantly increased with passage number. For AF‐ and AM‐MSCs, cell viability did not change with passages. In UCM‐MSCs, cell viability remained at approximately constant levels up to P6 and significantly decreased from P7 (P < 0.05). Amnion and UCM‐MSCs expressed embryonic and MSC markers, such as Oct‐4 CD44, CD184, and CD29, whereas AF‐MSCs expressed Oct‐4, CD44. Expression of the hematopoietic markers CD34 and CD45 was not found. Dog leucocyte antigens (DLA‐DRA1 and DLA‐79) were expressed only in AF‐MSCs at P1. Isolated cells of the three cell lines at P3 showed multipotent capacity, and differentiated in vitro into neurocyte, adipocyte, osteocyte, and chondrocyte, as demonstrated by specific stains and expression of molecular markers. Cells at P4 showed normal chromosomal number, structure, and telomerase activity. These results demonstrate that, in dog, MSCs can be successfully isolated from foetal adnexa and grown in vitro. Their proven stemness and chromosomal stability indicated that MSCs could be used as a model to study stem cell biology and have an application in therapeutic programs. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 78:361–373, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Elaborating on a method of Soul\'e, and using better estimates for the geometry of hermitian lattices, we improve the upper bounds for the torsion part of the K-theory of the rings of integers of number fields.


Advanced TV makes the life more convenient for the viewers and it is based on the recognition technology. In this paper, we propose the implementation of face tracking system for efficient face recognition in intelligent digital TV. To recognize the face, face detection should be performed earlier. We use the motion information to track the face. Continuous face tracking is possible by using continuous detected face region and motion information. Thus the computational complexity of the recognition module in the whole system can be reduced.


This chapter explores the challenges of implementing reforms for the Republic of Vietnam during its "Vietnamization," or U.S. troop withdrawal. At the time, there were many underlying difficulties to the task of enforcing fiscal discipline, fighting inflation, and economic restructuring. In the face of this economic conundrum, the Republic of Vietnam and the United States saw things through their own perspectives. American advisors moralized that "it was time for Vietnam to stand on its own feet." Foreign observers saw conspicuous wealth in a country at war: motorbikes, televisions, and every kind of luxury. Economists criticized what they saw as a country that "consumes much, but produces little." Meanwhile, local politicians kept approving more expensive budgets but shied away from unpopular revenue-collecting measures, instead blaming the situation on incompetent ministers. For too long, Vietnam avoided the political taboos of currency devaluation and taxation whenever confronted with the structural imbalances of its economy.


The Ethiopian joint venture law is comparable with both German and English laws in respect of confidentiality. In relation to nature, transfer of shares, liability of partners, and profits and losses distribution policy, the Ethiopian joint venture law is more related with the English one. Whereas, with regard to the requirement of written agreement, the Ethiopian law is more parallel with that of the German silent partnership since in both countries such requirement is waived by their respective laws. Additionally, concerning the who manages issue, it can be said that at least interms of composition and structure, the Ethiopian law is more comparable with the German silent partnership. This article comes up with some best experiences to Ethiopia drawn from the comparative analysis. It urges some prudent legal frameworks to be espoused for the proper practice of joint ventures, i.e. in the way it addresses the ever more pressing needs for joint venture engagements in Ethiopia. Accordingly, some legal improvements will be suggested, mainly, on the issues of confidentiality, dissolution, and the need for written agreement.


We put the logistics park as the modern logistics industry space carrier,from the logistics park's location,size,layout,traffic and environmental factors,seek for logistics park interior space environment design theory,as far as possible to design a different landscape themes and individual characteristics of the green logistics park,so as to play better spatial value.


Based on groundwork survey and literatures,the amphibians and reptiles of Erxianyan Subalpine Sphagnum Marshes Wetland were reported.35 species were found there.18 species of amphibians,belongs to 2 orders,7 families and 13 genera.17 species of reptiles belongs to 2 orders, 7 families and 13 genera.Giant Salamander was designated as grade Ⅱ key state-protected species.There were 16 species of amphibians and reptiles,belongs to provincial protected varieties of Hubei Province.Type of geographical distribution of them was studied.At the same time,conservation and management suggestions about amphibians and reptiles were proposed in the paper.


In the article the peculiarities of collective security in Europe at the present stage of international relations are presented. It is noted that collective security is to ensure security for all participants of international relations that have merged into a single system in order to face the challenges and threats. The author also reveals the relationship between the system of collective security and modern security threats and the influence of such threats on the formation of a system and its significant changes.
The article noted that the modern threats to our collective security constitute a collective term that includes both traditional threats and new challenges, which arose under the influence of the development of science and technology, and globalization. Overall, the author concluded that the threat is a set of factors and conditions, which in future can potentially be a danger to the state.
The article pointed out that the European security environment has changed significantly under the influence of time, because, despite the fact that today a large-scale aggression against any European state impossible, all the same the main source of danger for citizens is the threats and challenges of the new type.
Described the special role of trust in the system of collective security and stated that, taking into account the features of international law and the lack of stringent mechanisms of control, that trust is an important basis of interaction between States in international relations, and the system of collective security.
The author also emphasized the necessity of making significant changes in the modern collective security system to improve its effectiveness and increase resistance to threats. Noted the need to "depoliticize" the system of collective security, that is, when forming the strategy of the conduct of all parties should discard the political aspirations and other interests of a participant in favor of the interests of the region. Only in the complete absence based on collective security from political interests of each individual state that is included in this system, it is possible to speak about its effectiveness. The article also emphasizes the need to revise the cooperation of systems of collective security among themselves to enhance their effectiveness and to avoid duplication of authority.


More than 95% of the world's oceanic fleet and over 12,000 aircraft use Inmarsat safety and operational services for communication and surveillance today. Inmarsat provided 50 million aircraft position reports last year (roughly 137,000 per day) over its satellite network. With our wholly owned and operated satellite network powering international commerce, Inmarsat is working with international aviation organisations to make flight safer, more efficient and more predictable. We are constantly building capabilities that anticipate the diverse and changing requirements of today's customers.


Abstract Mineral prospectivity mapping (MPM) based on the principle of geometric mean was applied to stream sediment geochemical, fault density, and aeromagnetic data from Tagmout basin, Morocco to determine new areas for optimizing copper exploration. The application of a fuzzy operator using stream sediment data, factor analysis, and fault density map, allowed weights to be assigned to these parameters so that the MPM function can process them to indicate the most favorable zones of copper mineralization. The model's accuracy as evaluated using a normalized density index (Nd with value 1.22) shows the reliability of the method. The potential copper concentration areas represent 8.22% of the entire basin of which 30% are concentrated in the western portion of the basin and other significant areas are in the southwest and northeast portions. The results indicate that MPM is a powerful technique for planning exploration programs that aim for sustainable mining activities.


The article departs from considering how, in contemporary performances without performers, there is a rethinking of relations of co-presence between humans and nonhumans. In this framework, human acting is challenged and the agency of objects is highlighted, leading to perceiving nonhumans as animated, either by a human presence or otherwise. Considering that the animist potential in these pieces results from an entanglement of presence and absence — of both human and nonhuman agency — it is further proposed that such animism is better understood through an understanding of spectrality as a metaphor describing that entanglement. To illustrate these points, I introduce three performance pieces presented recently: Les Aveugles (2002), by Denis Marleau; 33 rpm and a few Seconds (2013) by Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué; and Sacre du Printemps (2014) by Romeo Castellucci. The description of each piece is expanded by recurring to theoretical insights by Phillip Auslander, Elinor Fuchs, Una Chaudhuri and Bruno Latour, which allow me to demonstrate how I understand animism and spectrality to occur in stagings without human performers. Following up, I continue with a brief historical overview of the idea of absenting of the actor in the modern and western theatre history, underlining how often the idea was associated with views on the staging of life and death. Recurring to how the absenting of the actor was approached by authors such as Kleist, Craig, Maeterlinck, Kantor, among others, it will be pointed out how that interest was suppressed from theatre history and thus marked by a mode of spectrality. Finally, I conclude by reviewing how contemporary pieces without actors perform forms of animism that can be understood as a 'spectral metaphor' (Peeren), associating the recasting of the human's absence and the presencing of nonhumans.


AIM
Selection of perspective targets as a base for development of test systems for the detection of legionella DNA in study material by PCR with electrophoresis and hybridization-fluorescent accounting of the results.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
22 Legionella pneumophila, 3 Legionella spp. strains and 30 cultures ofheterologic microorganisms, clinical material and environmental object samples were used in the study. Genome analysis was carried out by using Mega 3.1 program. Primer selection was conducted by using Primer Express program and BLAST algorithm and TaqMan format probes on the website www.genscript.com.

RESULTS
Analysis of 712 legionella nucleotide sequences for the presence of novel species-specific and conservative for L. pneumophila loci was carried out. Fragments of life-support genes were selected for the analysis: fliC, mompS, ftsZ, dotA, dnaX, trpS, rpoB, rnp, proA, gspA. The most perspective DNA targets were established to be ftsZ and mompS genes. Based on the selected loci, PCR test systems were constructed for the detection of DNA oflegionella causative agent in biological material and environment objects, their diagnostic value was characterized.

CONCLUSION
The studies carried out have shown the perspective of use of life-support ftsZ and mompS genes for the construction of novel preparations for legionellosis genetic diagnostics.


Abstract : This report included the following topics: Neutron Diffraction Studies of High Tc Superconductors, Theories of High Tc Superconductors, High-Tc Superconducting Films of Yterbium Barium Copper Oxide Prepared by a Low Pressure Plasma Spraying, Magnetism, Specific Heat, and Surface Topography of Oxide Superconductors, High-Resolution X-ray Microstructural Study of Single Crystals of (Yterbium Barium Copper Oxide), Effect of Oxygen Pressure on the Phase Transformation in the Y-Ba-Cu-O and Related Superconducting Oxides, Optical Properties of Dopant Induced States in Lanthanium Strontium Copper Oxide (La2-xSrxCuo4) Compounds, High-Tc Superconducting Oxide Films Produced From Solution Precursors, The Deposition, Fabrication and Characteristics of High Critical Temperature Devices.


In this paper, we present an algorithm for computing the Cholesky factorization of large banded matrices on the IBM distributed memory parallel machines. The algorithm aims at optimizing the single node performance and minimizing the communication overheads. An important result of our paper is that the proposed algorithm is strongly scalable. As the bandwidth of the matrix increases, the number of processors that can be efficiently utilized has a quadratic relationship.


Let us assume that the observed random vector Z, has a p-dimensional normal distribution with zero-mean vector. In the present paper we discuss estimators of the quadratic discriminant function U(z)=ln(f1(z)/f2(z)).


It was recently confirmed that relative abundances of m/z values of the average mass scan of the total GC chromatograms (AMS) are suitable variables for multivariate statistical comparison (MVA) of essential oils. These are even more applicable, reliable and faster than the traditionally used variablespercentages (peak areas) of individual oil constituents. Herein, we have explored if AMS-derived variables are appropriate for MVA comparison of plant solvent extract compositional data. To achieve this, average mass scans of the total GC chromatograms and chemical compositions (relative percentages) of eight diethyl ether extracts (six different species; samples were analyzed using GC-FID and GC-MS; data from the literature) were separately compared using two MVA methods: agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis and principal component analysis. The obtained results strongly suggest that MVA of complex volatile mixtures (GC-MS analyzable fractions of plant solvent extracts), using the corresponding AMS, could be considered as a promising time saving tool for easy and reliable comparison purposes. The AMS approach gives comparable or even better results than the traditional method.


Formation of clusters is aimed at increasing the synergies of merger of various institutes in one chain. Formation of economic cluster in the construction industry may be considered as the launch of construction scientific and educational cluster in the Republic of Tatarstan. The study of cluster development presented in the article reveals the specifics of this subject area. The information will be useful for those who are interested in clusters as a tool for the development of a region.


During July to August in 1992, a unusual foliar blight disease was observed on soybean plants intercropped between rows of winter wheat in an upland field converted from a paddy field at Tohoku National Agricultural Experiment Station in Morioka, northern part of Japan. The symptoms appeared as primary lesions consisting of small, circular necrotic spots, 1-mm or less than 1-mm in diameter, followed by secondary lesions showing circular to irregularly-shaped and large-sized areas of necrosis around the primary lesions under humid conditions. All the isolates of Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn consistently recovered from leaves with the primary and secondary lesions (hereinafter referred to as leaf spot isolates) formed anastomoses in a high frequency (>75%) with the tester isolates of the anastomosis subgroup AG-2-1 but in a low frequency (<16%) with those of the AG-2-2 IIIB and IV and anastomosis group AG-BI. Among the 66 leaf spot isolates, 64 were auxotrophic for thiamine, whereas the isolates of the AG-2-1 were autotrophic for thiamine. The remaining 2 isolates could not grow even in the presence of thiamine. Culture appearance and optimum growth temperature of the leaf spot isolates were similar to those of the AG-2-1 rather than to those of the AG-2-2 IIIB and IV subgroup. Inoculation tests revealed that the leaf spot isolates were highly pathogenic to soybean, adzuki bean and kidney bean and caused severe pre-emergence and post-emergence damping-off, but were not pathogenic to rape and radish. The isolates caused foliar blight on soybean. These results indicated that most of the leaf spot isolates of AG-2 from soybean did not fit to either the AG-2-1 or AG-2-2 subgroup. Hence, we assigned these isolates to a new subgroup 3 in AG-2 (designated as AG-2-3).


Feeding experiments with [13C]-labelled acetates and [18O2] to Aspergillus ochraceus(strain DSM-7428) have been carried out to evaluate the biosynthesis of aspinonene 1. The results reveal a close relationship to aspyrone 2. After a rearrangement reaction of a pentaketide intermediate the hypothetical bisepoxide 5 is either oxidised leading to 2, or reduced leading to 1. Both pathways were found to be active in A. ochraceus, and could be directed towards 2 by using increased dissolved oxygen concentrations during fermentation.


We report investigations of the region in which NH/sub 3/ lines are formed in the direction of the Kleinmann-Low nebula. A non-LTE model, including the transfer of both the line radiation and the dust-generated continuum radiation, was constructed to study the excitation of the lowest 31 levels of NH/sub 3/. Agreement between the model and the observations is excellent. The model implies relatively high densities (approx.10/sup 6/H/sub 2/cm/sup -3/) and temperatures (approx.70K) for the line formation region. These results further imply that the lines come from a small (approx.16'') core with an optical depth of approx.0.02 in the dust continuum at 250..mu..m. We have also studied the problem of the NH/sub 3/ line shapes. We derive an abundance of (NH/sub 3/)/(H/sub 2/)approx. =5 x 10/sup -7/, a factor of approx.10/sup 3/ higher than ion-molecule predictions. Our abundance is, however, consistent with the abundance of NH/sub 3/ ice on grains seen toward the BN object if the interpretation of the 3..mu..m feature as H/sub 2/O and NH/sub 3/ ices is correct. We suggest that the extreme NH/sub 3/ clumping implied by the 16'' core may be due to evaporation of NH/sub 3/ from grains in the Kleinmann-Low nebula.


Infrared photovoltaic response and high quantum efficiency have been observed in a large‐area InSb, metal‐oxide‐semiconductor structure. Spectral measurements indicate that the response is due to the generation of electron‐hole pairs in a depletion region of the n‐type InSb at the InSb‐oxide interface. Pulsed current measurements yield a clear diode characteristic and the overall results are equivalent to what one would expect to obtain from a photodiode in series with a MOS capacitor.


Lipoxidase activity was obtained in enzyme preparations from sunflower seeds and seedlings. A partly purified preparation from seedlings was used for enzyme kinetic studies. The pH optimum was 6.8 and 100% oxygen was required for maximum activity. The Michaelis constant, with potassium linoleate as substrate, was 1.64 × 10−3 M. The reaction products were conjugated dienes. Enzyme activity was not affected by various metal and sulphydryl inhibitors nor by α-tocopherol, but catechol, α-naphthol, ethanol, and potassium oleate were inhibitory. Oil from flax, rape, and sunflower seeds reduced total oxidation of linoleate by the enzyme. Copper sulphate increased the rate and total oxidation of the linoleate–lipoxidase system, but iron, manganese, magnesium, and calcium were without effect. Lipoxidase activity was associated with mitochondrial (15,000 × g), intermediate (25,000 × g), and microsomal (100,000 × g) fractions, as well as with the soluble cytoplasmic proteins. Lipoxidase activity in seedlings increas...


This work investigates the stability of electrolyte systems used in sodium-ion-based batteries. The electrolytes consist of a 1:1 (v:v) mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC), a sodium-conducting salt (either NaPF6 or NaTFSI), and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), respectively, sodium difluoro(oxalato) borate (NaDFOB), as additives. Through systematic evaluation using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we analyze the formation of degradation products under different conditions including variations in temperature, vial material, and the presence or absence of sodium metal. Our results reveal the significant influence of the conductive salt's source on degradation. Furthermore, we observe that FEC's stability is affected by the storage temperature, vial material, and presence of sodium metal, suggesting its active involvement in the degradation process. Additionally, our results highlight the role of NaDFOB as an additive in mitigating degradation. The study provides crucial insights into the complex network of degradation reactions occurring within the electrolyte, thus informing strategies for improved electrolyte systems in sodium-based batteries. Since the production, material selection and storage of electrolytes are often insufficiently described, we provide here an insight into the different behavior of electrolytes for Na-ion batteries.


. Four ZnS nanopowders containing an uncontrolled impurity of manganese were studied using EPR technique. The powders with the average sizes (6…8 nm) were synthesized by either joint or sequential decomposition of diethyldithiocarbamate complexes of zinc and europium in high-boiling solvents at various temperatures. All samples demonstrated the EPR signal that is not typical for ZnS powders with µ m-sized particles. Computer simulation showed that EPR spectra of all the samples could be fitted by two components. The first component with g = 2.0022 ± 0.0002, ( ) 1 4 cm 10 5.0 5. 63 − − ⋅ ± − = A , 1 4 04 cm 10 5.3 − − ⋅ ≥ b was assigned to Mn 2+ ions in the cubic surrounding, Mn(C). The parameters of the second component were g = 2.0022 ± 0.0002, ( ) 1 4 cm 10 5.0 5. 63 − − ⋅ ± − = A , ( ) 1 4 02 cm 10 1 36 − − ⋅ ± − = b ; this component was attributed to Mn 2+ ions associated with a planar lattice defect (stacking fault), Mn 2+ (D). The ratio of centers amounts Mn 2+ (C)/Mn 2+ (D) for the samples studied was 2.1/1 (in the samples 1 and 4) and 1.7/1 (in the samples 2 and 3), respectively. EPR of Mn 2+ ions was shown to be an effective method for detecting planar lattice defects in ZnS nanoparticles.


This research aims to evaluate the feeding behavior in pre-school children. In this first part, it was performed the adaptation of the Portuguese version (Portugal) of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) for Portuguese Brazilian language, which was applied in mothers of 15 children aged three to six years. It was added an option "I did not understand" in each question to verify the comprehensiveness of at least 85% of the questionnaire. All questions were answered properly and the respective scores were in line with the original version. This version of the CEBQ can be considered adequate for Brazilian parents.


The use of web has become an attractive option for the development of learning environments due to the high interactive interfaces which computers have throughout their multimedia resources - graphic, videos,  animation and simulation. Here is presented an analysis of the influence of ConcWeb online virtual environment on the learning process for reinforced concrete design. Data was collected by student's exams and longitudinal study was employed to obtain the results. All measurements were obtained during the course of one semester were adjusted to hierarchical linear models in order to describe the students' learning trajectories. A positive influence of ConcWeb in the students' learning process was shown by the final results. Since the students are stimulated to access the virtual environment, ConcWeb is  a great tool to assist them in the process of learning reinforced concrete design as well as to assist lectures, teach the subject to engineering majors.


Posttraumatic splenic rupture is described in the literature, but delayed splenic rupture (DSR) with no identifiable splenic injury at the initial CT is a rare phenomenon. We present a 76-year-old male who sustained blunt abdominal trauma with a negative initial CT who later developed splenic rupture posttrauma day 9. We review the literatures describing this rare entity and consider possible causes. DSR is a clinically challenging diagnosis that requires high index of suspicion. There are few reported cases of DSR with normal initial CT scan after trauma in the literature. Defined as a splenic rupture occurring greater than 48 hours after injury, the incidence of DSR has decreased with early recognition of splenic injury from CT scan. DSR occurs even less frequently with a normal initial CT scan of the spleen. A 76-year-old male was involved in a motor vehicle collision in which he was ejected and found approximately 300 feet from his vehicle. On admission to our facility, he had superficial abrasions on the left chest and upper flank. Chest X-ray revealed bilateral pneumothoraces, which were treated with tube thoracostomies. Intravenous contrast-enhanced CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis revealed left 1st through 8th rib fracture and mild contusion to the head of the pancreas and duodenum with no evidence of hematoma. There was no solid organ injury including the spleen. (Fig. 1) He had history of atrial fibrillation for which he was taking warfarin. His admission international normalized ratio (INR) was 2.2. He was given two units of fresh frozen plasma, and admitted to hospital. After uneventful three days in hospital, his anticoagulation was resumed. On posttrauma day 9, he developed acute left lower quadrant pain with hemodynamic instability and cardiac arrest. After the return of spontaneous rhythm, bedside ultrasound revealed free intraperitoneal fluid. His hemoglobin was decreased by 3 mg/dL. Repeated CT scan revealed an enlarged and macerated spleen with hemoperitoneum. (Fig. 2) The patient subsequently underwent embolization of the splenic artery. Small active bleeding was noted in the lower pole of the spleen during angiography. The patient remained critically ill, and a later CT scan revealed the presence of an anoxic brain injury. The family decided to withdraw care, and patient expired on posttrauma day 12. Approximately 39,000 patients are admitted with a blunt splenic injury every year in the United States.1 In about 30 per cent of these patients, early surgical intervention and splenectomy are performed for lifethreatening splenic rupture. DSR after blunt trauma is an atypical presentation where there is an asymptomatic period between the initial injury and the signs of splenic rupture.2 Cases of DSR have been reported from 48 hours from initial trauma to up to 146 days.3 CT scan has sensitivity and specificity of over 96 per cent for diagnosis of splenic injury. Before the widespread use of CT scan and early detection of splenic laceration or hematoma, earlier case reports relied solely on patient's history and clinical diagnosis, and the incidence of DSR was estimated around 15 per cent. Zarzaur et al.3 reviewed a selection of patients whose blunt splenic injuries were managed nonoperatively and found that 1.4 per cent of patients developed DSR and required splenectomy.Without CT evidence of blunt splenic injury, the incidence of DSR is even lower, and there are few case reports of true DSR with normal initial CT findings.4 Physicians should have a high index of suspicion of occult splenic injury when there is a CT diagnosis of injury involving the left upper quadrant structures including adrenal, kidney, diaphragm, and retroperitoneal Presented as a poster at the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting, February, 20-23, 2016, Atlanta, GA. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Jin Sol Oh, M.D., Department of Surgery, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, 1120 15th Street, BI 4070, Augusta, GA 30912. E-mail: email@example.com.


We report on the structural and optical properties of self‐assembled (Al,Ga)InP quantum dots (QDs) with varying material composition embedded in a (Al0.30Ga0.70)0.51In0.49P matrix. The samples were grown by gas‐source molecular beam epitaxy. Atomic force microscopy was used to study the structural properties of the quantum dots, revealing a strong dependence of the morphology on the material composition. Low‐temperature ensemble photoluminescence was observed between 590 nm and 720 nm. Temperature and excitation power dependent, as well as time resolved measurements were performed, indicating a significantly reduced electron confinement and a reduced overlap of the electron/hole wavefunctions for Al‐ and/or Ga‐rich compositions.


Introduction Field and Lab Techniques Results Conclusions Acknowledgments List of Tables List of Figures Sources Cited Submitted 02/25/2008 by: Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos firstname.lastname@example.com


Trajectory generator 2, when having a series of movement action impact operation to generate a predetermined impact, with each sensor value acquired from the acceleration sensor and the angular velocity sensor mounted at a predetermined portion of the body, a predetermined portion to generate a behavior trajectory. For example, the trajectory generator 2, and the moving locus of the predetermined portion of the body from the start operation of a series of exercise routines to operate the impact, individually generates the motion track of the predetermined portion of the body to the end operation from the impact operation. That is, the trajectory generator 2 is divided into front and rear impact operation, because it generates the motion track of the predetermined portion of the body, it can impact operation to consider the impact on the trajectory deriving the predetermined portion of the body, a series of the trajectory of the movement operate more accurately can be reproduced.


Blaming drivers for crashes remains popular. However it can let road authorities evade responsibility for their contribution. A recent fatal crash is reviewed. While media reports focused on the supposed failures of one of the drivers, an assessment of the on-site conditions points to the contribution of erroneous signing and a misleading road layout. These are matters wholly within the road authority's responsibility and could easily have been rectified years before the fatal crash. Yet they are aspects that receive little public scrutiny. Examination of the principles behind the Safe System shows that one principle – that road safety is 'a shared responsibility' – contributes to the problem. The final act before a crash may well be road user error, but the critical causal factor is often associated with physical features of the road that led to the error.


In this paper, we describe and analyze the performance of a new architectural construct - an efficient synchronization mechanism called "Static Barrier MIMD" or SBM. Unlike traditional barrier synchronization, the proposed barriers are designed to allow static (compile-time) code scheduling to eliminate some synchronizations. The static barrier MIMD hardware is more general than most hardware barrier mechanisms, allowing any subset of the processors to participate in each barrier. The barriers execute in a small number of clock ticks, and processors proceed simultaneously past the barrier. The performance of idealized barrier schedules is examined to gain insights into code scheduling for barrier MIMD machines.


Though it is well documented that antidepressants are associated with an increased risk of falls in older adults at the drug class level, the comparative risk between individual antidepressants for fall injury in older adults with depression is unknown. Currently, clinicians are making decisions at the drug class level without consideration of the potential that there could be safer choices within classes. We compared the risk of fall injury among initiators of bupropion, duloxetine, fluoxetine, paroxetine, and venlafaxine to those of (es)citalopram and, separately, sertraline. We performed a retrospective cohort study using the MarketScan® Medicare Supplemental claims from 2007 to 2019. Individuals had incident depression (washout in previous continually enrolled year) with a first antidepressant claim up to three months after depression diagnosis. Individuals were followed for the first three months of antidepressant use until the first occurrence of fall injury, change/discontinuation of antidepressant, discontinued insurance coverage, or end of study. Propensity score inverse probability of treatment-weighted Cox proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals for each antidepressant comparison and fall injury. We identified 114,505 individuals (mean age 76.6 years, 68% female, 97% without prior fall). A higher risk of fall injury was associated with initiating bupropion (HR 1.20 to 1.61), duloxetine (HR 1.27 to 1.36), paroxetine (HR 1.14 to 1.22), and venlafaxine (HR 1.22 to 1.34) when compared to (es)citalopram or sertraline. New use of duloxetine, bupropion, paroxetine, and venlafaxine was associated with a higher risk of fall injury compared to (es)citalopram and sertraline.


The paper describes the non destructive, surface wave propagation method of testing about a 40 ft length of road at a time. In this technique, vibrations are generated in the road surface at a number of frequencies within the range 28 to 24000 c/sec, and the wavelength and velocity of the vibrations are determined. By making measurements at only one selected frequency it was possible to test selected lengths of cemented bases at rates of up to 1000 ft/day. Inadequate compaction at the bottom of concrete road slabs has also been located by the surface wave propagation method. From the results, an estimate has been made of the equivalent thickness of concrete having the same elastic properties as the material at the surface of the slab. Changes in the properties of the base materials resulting from traffic have also been studied by the surface wave propagation method. The method has detected: (a) increases in compaction of granular bases and subbases, (b) stripping of bituminous bases, and (c) development of cracks in cement bound bases (A).


We investigate the possibilities of a tight-binding ladder network as a mesoscopic switching device. Several cases have been discussed in which any one or both arms of the ladder can assume random, ordered, or quasiperiodic distribution of atomic potentials. We show that, for a special choice of the Hamiltonian parameters, it is possible to prove exactly the existence of mobility edges in such a system, which plays a central role in the switching action. We also present numerical results for the two-terminal conductance of a general model of a quasiperiodically grown ladder, which support the general features of the electron states in such a network. The analysis might be helpful in fabricating mesoscopic or DNA switching devices.


Lithium hydride as heat storage medium in the sunflower system to provide continuous power conversion during the shade time of earth orbits


As the abundance of collected data on products, processes and service-related operations continues to grow with technology that facilitates the ease of data collection, it becomes important to use the data adequately for decision making. The ultimate value of the data is realized once it can be used to derive information on product and process parameters and make appropriate inferences. Inferential statistics, where information contained in a sample is used to make inferences on unknown but appropriate population parameters, has existed for quite some time (Mendenhall, Reinmuth, & Beaver, 1993; Kutner, Nachtsheim, & Neter, 2004). Applications of inferential statistics to a wide variety of fields exist (Dupont, 2002; Mitra, 2006; Riffenburgh, 2006). In data mining, a judicious choice has to be made to extract observations from large databases and derive meaningful conclusions. Often, decision making using statistical analyses requires the assumption of normality. This chapter focuses on methods to transform variables, which may not necessarily be normal, to conform to normality.


We revisit the phenomenon of the resonant transmission of fermionic carriers through a quantum device connected to two contacts with different chemical potentials. We show that, besides the traditional in solid-state physics Landauer-Büttiker approach, this phenomenon can be also described by the non-Markovian master equation for the reduced density matrix of the fermions in the quantum device. We identify validity regions of both approaches in the system parameter space and argue that for large relaxation rates the accuracy of the latter approach greatly exceeds the accuracy of the former.


A flavor model based on a $A_4$ modular group is proposed to account for both lepton and quark parameters (masses and mixing). We consider the inverse seesaw mechanism to produce the light neutrino masses. Both neutrino and charged lepton masses are obtained in terms of Yukawa coupling ratios and the module $\tau$ of the $A_4$ modular form. The calculated lepton and quark parameters are in good agreement with the recent data.


Objective To enhance the Supply Department management in order to control and prevent hospital internal infections.Methods The sterilizing and isolating policies must be implemented strictly in Supply Department.Ensure all the stuff to be disinfected,the air samples to be collected and monitored all the time.Results After the policies been applied,the qualified ratio of asepsis rooms which have been examined was achieved 100%.Conclusion Not only the disinfecting and classifying work in Supply Department,but the utilizing of antibiotic with other effective methods are important in order to control the hospital infection and improve the quality of medical treatment.To build the systematic monitoring system is very efficient way to control and prevent the hospital internal infection.


Y~ 3+-doped TiO_2nanopowders were synthesized via sol-gel process in the presence of ethylenediamine.The as-prepared nanopowders appeared to be rod-like with diameters of 15 nm and lengths of 150—250 nm observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The experiment results of photocatalytic decomposition of nitrophenol indicated that the Y~ 3+-doped TiO_2 nanopowders synthesized in the presence of ethylenediamine have higher photocatalytic efficiency compared to that synthesized in the presence of HCl.


[1] The 8500 km2 Flade Isblink ice cap (FIIC) (81°15′N, 15°0′W) is the largest ice cap in Greenland. We use repeat-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) techniques to investigate the form and flow of the FIIC. European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS-1 and ERS-2) data acquired in winter 1996 were used to form a 100 m resolution digital elevation model (DEM), which we constrained using Ice Cloud and Elevation satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter elevation measurements from 2007. This InSAR DEM was used to isolate the phase due to motion from seven ERS-tandem (1 day) pairs of SAR scenes acquired between 15 August 1995 and 7 February 1996, to produce one wintertime and two summertime velocity maps. Five of the eight major outlet glaciers draining the FIIC are marine terminating, and two terminate at a lake margin. A maximum ice velocity of 581 m yr−1 was observed in mid-August 1995. Six of the eight major outlet glaciers exhibit seasonal velocity variations between late summer and winter, and flow speeds vary by up to 20% over a 10 day period in August 1995. Our findings show that while marine terminating glaciers flow faster than land terminating glaciers, there is no simple relationship between glacier type and seasonality of ice motion.


Objectives We assess how different scenarios of cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, aimed at meeting targets set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2025), may impact healthcare spending in Quebec, Canada over the 2050 horizon. Methods We provide long-term forecasts of healthcare use and costs at the Quebec population level using a novel dynamic microsimulation model. Using both survey and administrative data, we simulate the evolution of the Quebec population's health status until death, through a series of dynamic transitions that accounts for social and demographic characteristics associated with CVD risk factors. Results A 25% reduction in CVD mortality between 2012 and 2025 achieved through decreased incidence could contain the pace of healthcare cost growth towards 2050 by nearly 7 percentage points for consultations with a physician, and by almost 9 percentage points for hospitalizations. Over the 2012–2050 period, the present value of cost savings is projected to amount to C$13.1 billion in 2012 dollars. The years of life saved due to improved life expectancy could be worth another C$38.2 billion. Addressing CVD mortality directly instead would bring about higher healthcare costs, but would generate more value in terms of years of life saved, at C$69.6 billion. Conclusions Potential savings associated with plausible reductions in CVD, aimed at reaching a World Health Organization target over a 12-year period, are sizeable and may help address challenges associated with an aging population.


It provides a method of inducing nucleation of materials. The disclosed method includes induction phase, and by changing the pressure nucleation substances bring below near or phase transition temperature substance. The disclosed method, freeze-drying process, which is particularly useful in freeze-drying process of the drug.


The effects of chicory on swimming time and pole climbing time of mice were observed. Its effects on blood lactic acid, blood uria nitrogen, liver glycogen and muscle glycogen of mice were also tested. The results showed that chicory enforced the swimming durability of mice and prolonged their pole climbing time chicory had antifatigue effects.


An air-core strip-type high-voltage pulse transformer (HVPT) features a relatively simple structure in terms of design and fabrication. However, this HVPT requires considerable attention to prevent dielectric breakdown between the conductor windings. Because each spiral winding must be very thin, the field enhancement at the edges of the windings is very high. Therefore, it is important to develop proper methods to reduce the field enhancement factor and to prevent the dielectric breakdown at the winding edges. In this paper, in order to minimize the field enhancement, the proposed HVPT winding edges were folded, and each winding width was designed to decrease gradually to form a reverse trapezoid. These windings were insulated by multilayer insulators arranged in a specific manner. The requirement specifications are a maximum input voltage of 50 kV and an output voltage of 400 kV. This paper describes a design process and an electric field analysis to reduce the field enhancement. The simulation and experimental results confirmed the validity of the fabricated HVPT. The dielectric breakdown strength was tested up to 467 kV.


the Objectives: This study compares the prevalence of oral and systemic disease between bonded child laborers and school children living in Bagalur, Tamil Nadu, India. No oral health data currently exist for this city. The research hypothesis was that public school children were less likely to experience oral and systemic disease than bonded child laborers. Methods: School children (N=50) and bonded child laborers (N=52) were examined by a medical doctor and two dental examiners (IRB # 15-3001), who recorded the presence or absence of disease. Chi square analysis was used to compare the two groups of children. Level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: The proportion of children with at least some dental decay was significantly different (p=.001) for child laborers (71%) than school children (36%). Child laborers were 1.9 times more likely to have decay than school children (95% CI, 1.2-2.9). Dental pain was reported by 40% of the child laborers compared to 18% of school children (p=.018) and child laborers were 2.2 times more likely to experience dental pain than school children (95% CI, 1.1-4.4). Fifty-one percent of child laborers required urgent dental treatment compared to 12% of school children (p<.001) and they were 4.2 times more likely to require dental treatment than school children (95% CI,1.9-9.5). Child laborers were also three times more likely to require urgent medical treatment (95% CI,1.1-8.9). Conclusion: Bonded child laborers in Bagalur, India are more likely to experience dental decay, dental related pain, and require urgent dental and than


Background: About 1.3 billion people are regular smokers world wide and every day between 8,200 and 9,900 young people start to smoke, risking rapid addiction to nicotine. Transition from high school to college is a critical period to adopt healthy habits and life style. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that might influence their smoking habit. Our study aims to assess the influence of factors that encourage college students to smoke cigarettes. Methods: The data used in this survey were obtained from a representative sample of registered colleges of Karachi. A random sample of 576 male college students of ages ranging from 15–30 years was interviewed using a questionnaire administered by survey officers, by applying multi stage cluster sampling during the academic year 2004–2005. Results: In this study, we found 26.7% of students had ever tried smoking, whereas 24%(95% CI: 21.0%–28.0%) of college students reported current smoking (that is whether one had smoked a cigarette in past 30 days). Among different age groups, prevalence of current smoking was 19.2% in 15–17 years, 26.5% in 18–20 years and 65% in 21 years and above. After adjusting for age of respondent, students in public schools were more likely to smoke as compared to students in private schools (adjusted OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.3–4.2). Students whose friends are smokers were 5 times more likely to smoke compared to those whose friends are non-smokers (adjusted OR = 4.8; 95%CI: 3.1 – 7.4). Those students having fathers with no formal schooling were more likely to smoke (adjusted OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1–4.2) as compared to those whose fathers had some degree of education. Students having non-working mothers were more likely to smoke as compared to students with working mothers (adjusted OR = 2.8; 95% CI: 0.9–9.1). Students belonging to Bin Qasim (adjusted OR = 2.1; 95% C.I: 1.1–4.1) and Gadap town (adjusted OR = 2.1; 95%C.I) were more likely to smoke as compared to students residing in other towns. Conclusion: This study shows that smoking is strongly associated with age, which may suggest social tolerance to smoking in this setting and that social and educational variables appear to play a significant role in smoking among college students. Our study suggests that such factors should be taken into account when designing effective tobacco control programs among college students. This is an effort which has been done to reduce tobacco consumption among college students and introduce awareness programs to amend their health risk behavior. Published: 1 November 2007 BMC Public Health 2007, 7:312 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-7-312 Received: 16 April 2007 Accepted: 1 November 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/312 © 2007 Rozi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Column generation (CG) is a vital method to solve large-scale problems by dynamically generating variables. It has extensive applications in common combinatorial optimization, such as vehicle routing and scheduling problems, where each iteration step requires solving an NP-hard constrained shortest path problem. Although some heuristic methods for acceleration already exist, they are not versatile enough to solve different problems. In this work, we propose a reinforcement learning-based hyper-heuristic framework, dubbed RLHH, to enhance the performance of CG. RLHH is a selection module embedded in CG to accelerate convergence and get better integer solutions. In each CG iteration, the RL agent selects a low-level heuristic to construct a reduced network only containing the edges with a greater chance of being part of the optimal solution. In addition, we specify RLHH to solve two typical combinatorial optimization problems: Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) and Bus Driver Scheduling Problem (BDSP). The total cost can be reduced by up to 27.9\% in VRPTW and 15.4\% in BDSP compared to the best lower-level heuristic in our tested scenarios, within equivalent or even less computational time. The proposed RLHH is the first RL-based CG method that outperforms traditional approaches in terms of solution quality, which can promote the application of CG in combinatorial optimization.


This article offers a new perspective on Eusebius' understanding of Christian identity by demonstrating that in the Praeparatio evangelica he presents human and demonic genē as comparable. Although the prominence of the language of 'ethnicity' to describe human groups in the Praeparatio has previously been highlighted, Eusebius' presentation of demons in similar terms has not yet been examined. Eusebius' descriptions of the demonic genos show that he held 'ethnic' identity, including Christian identity, to be linked above all to a creature's moral condition and to require the maintenance of particular patterns of behaviour.


The development of panic disorder has become a widely investigated area o f concern within the past decade. Recent theoretical models have emphasized the role of cognition in the onset of anxiety and in panic attacks. Studies have found that persons experiencing panic attacks are more concerned with changes in physiology. These persons are responding to internal cues that they perceive as threatening and aversive. Over time, these episodes increase in frequency and severity, leading to the development of clinical panic disorder. The purpose o f this study was to compare persons experiencing panic attacks to nonpanickers during stressful tasks to determine whether similar response patterns would occur. Undergraduate students were screen for participation during Mass Testing and were placed into one o f three groups : 1) panic, 2) no panic/high anxiety sensitivity, and 3) no panic/low anxiety sensitivity. Twenty panickers, 18 persons with high anxiety sensitivity, and 18 low anxiety sensitivity controls were asked to complete two stressful tasks, each lasting five minutes. The first task involved inflating balloons until they burst. In the second task, participants were asked to complete mental arithmetic problems and call out the answers when they had finished. Following each one-minute trial o f the tasks, participants were asked to complete self-report measures of somatic symptoms, subjective anxiety level, and to record their cognition at the time. Following these tasks, participants in the panic group were given the AD13IV Interview for Panic Disorder. Results yielded significant group differences with regard to somatic symptoms, subjective anxiety, and the number o f catastrophic cognitions reported during the physical exertion task, with panickers and high AS S's reporting the most distress in all cases. These results support the current theoretical model o f panic, as well as a relationship between panic and anxiety sensitivity. The nature o f that relationship, however, must be clarified through future research. In addition, reports of panic symptoms on the intervie w were consistent, overall, with those o f mass testing, though fewer .symptoms and panic attacks were reported during the interview. The implications o f these findings in relation to future research will be discussed. VI ANXIETY SENSITIVITY AND PANIC AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: COGNITION, EMOTION, AND SOMATIC SYMPTOMS Anxiety Sensitivity and 2 EARLY THEORIES AND RESEARCH There has been an abundance of research concerning the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of panic disorder within the past fifteen years. Much o f this research has focused on the interaction between physiological mechanisms and cognitive factors involved in its development and maintenance. The effects of these factors upon the course and success of treatment have also been the focus of numerous studies. The marked increase in the amount o f research de voted to this area was due to the reformulations of the anxiety disorders that occurred within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manna! ofM ental Disorders 111 R ( American Psychiatric Association, 1987). At this time, research began to emphasize the integration o f panic disorder and agoraphobia as being part o f the same clinical syndrome, as the DSM-flf-R had done. Investigating the relationship between the two clinical syndromes was warranted, given that the fear of unexpected panic attacks and generalized avoidance behavior could potentially be explained by similar models o f cognitive appraisal (Barlow, 1986; Beck & Emery, 1985; Clark, 1986; Margraf, Thiers, & Roth, 1986). Another emphasis of the plethora of investigations concerning panic disorder was the conceptualization of a cognitivephysiological, or Anxiety Sensitivity and 3 psychophysiological model of panic disorder. This model asserts that the onset o f panic attacks is precipitated by aJielghtened awareness Qf bodily^ sensations and a perception that these sensations are threatening. This fear of arousal increases sensitivity to interoceptive cues such that even normal physiological changes occurring within any given situation may result in the belief that these sensations are harmful. This pattern o f negative cognitive appraisals of physiological change then lead to increased physiological reactivity and psychological symptoms including the fear of dying and the fear o f going crazy. This cycle of fear and reactivity to fear are the hallmark of panic disorder proposed by the majority of recent psychophysiological theories (Barlow, 1988; Ehlers, 1989; Margraf, Ehiers, & Roth, 1986). The cognitive model of panic further proposes that as a result of the recurrence o f these panic attacks, avoidance behaviors will occur, subsequently resulting in agoraphobia. The onset o f avoidance behavior is the consequence o f having multiple panic experiences and developing a fear of going out in public. The cognitive model o f panic was developed after a series o f empirical studies examining the presence and frequency of physical and psychological symptoms among individuals diagnosed with panic disorder. The model was developed as an alternative to the biological models o f panic disorder that Anxiety Sensitivity and 4 i were supported ht the time. The biological models asserted that panic anxiety was qualitatively distinct from other forms of anxiety in that it involved an acute, course o f predominantly somatic symptoms that occur in an attack-like manner and are Spontaneous. In contrast, anticipatory anxiety is the result of fears concerning specific situations arid can be both predicted and avoided. attacks represent a specific biological dysfunction (Klein, 1964; Mendel & Klein, 1969). More recent support for a biological Model Of panic was proposed by SheehM (1982, who divided pathological anxiety into ■*end6gen0uSn and **ex6geft6uSntypes. Endogenous anxiety was Characterized by paths attacks that afe Spontaneous, while exogenous anxiety characterized all other forms of anxiety. It is reasonable to suggest that the cognitive model of panic was established in reaction to biological models because they lacked empirical support (Margraf, Ehlers & Roth, 1986). Studies attempting to detect biological markers of panic disorder that include infusion of sodium lactate (Ehlers, Margraf, Roth, Taylor, Maddook, Sheikh, Kopell, McClenahan, Gossard, Bowers, Agras, and Kopell, 1986) did not find that subjects in the clinical panic disorder group did not differ significantly on levels of physiological afOusal of subjective anxiety as a result Of the sodium Anxiety Sensitivity and 5 lactate infusion than the control group. Many studies of this nature have been conducted which have yielded similar results (Ehlers, 1989). Much o f the research is in agreement that physiological mechanisms do play an important role in the onset of panic attacks and the consequent development of clinical panic disorder, however, empirical evidence indicates that biological dysfunction is most likely not the single cause o f panic disorder. Similarly, although the cognitive model of panic has contributed considerably to our understanding of the nature and maintenance o f panic attacks, there remain several important questions to be addressed by future research. Furthermore, the fact that individuals with panic disorder may indeed be more sensitive to physiological changes and perceive them as aversive does not exclude other factors from influencing the development and course o f panic disorder. Seeking further evidence in support of the cognitive model o f panic disorder in addition to identifying other factors involved in its etiology are the rationales for continuing to conduct research in this area. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF PANIC Typically, studies of the psychophysiological elements of panic disorder involve assessing physiological and subjective self-report responses Anxiety Sensitivity and 6 to some biological challenge. Several studies of this nature have measured these aspects o f panic using panic induction procedures such as 5% carbon dioxide inhalation. For example, Lynch, Bakal, Whitelaw, Fung, and Rose (1992) examined the importance of agoraphobic avoidance and frequency of panic as predictors of increased physiological and psychological response to a laboratory-induced reaction of this type and found that the PD and Agoraphobia groups reported significantly more somatic and cognitive symptoms during the inhalation task than the control group. No significant differences were found, however, on the physiological measures of heart rate and respiration. Earlier studies using a similar methodology have not found identical results. Holt and Andrews (1989) measured somatic and cognitive symptoms during inhalation o f carbon dioxide in addition to hyperventilation. This study examined the symptoms across four anxiety disorders: 1) Agoraphobia 2) Panic Disorder 3) Social Phobia, and 4) Generalized Anxiety Disorder. These groups were compared to a control group with no psychiatric history. Though agoraphobics and PD patients reported significantly more feelings o f impending doom during the procedure than the other anxiety disorder groups and controls, significant differences were not found on levels of psychic anxiety or reports o f somatic symptoms. In this study, however, Anxiety Sensitivity and 7 the groups were not equal in size and some groups were considerably smaller than others. This has been a methodological difficulty for many studies of panic disorder because finding clinical subjects can be an arduous task, particularly when they are frequently unwilling to participate in procedures involving physiological arousal. This is not surprising, given that experimenters often ask them to engage in tasks that precipitate anxiety and panic. Roth, Margraf, Ehlers, Taylor, Maddock, Davies, and Agras (1992) conducted a study involving inhalation, cold pressor, and mental arithmetic as stressor


Among biologic drugs for psoriasis, the safety profile and ability of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors in treating psoriatic arthritis (PsA) make them a first-line choice for most patients who need biologic therapies, said Dr. Strober. He prescribes them when patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis have not responded to topical therapies or when severe psoriasis justifies starting treatment with these agents immediately.


C ervical spinal cord biopsy is usually performed as an open surgical procedure (laminectomy) under general anesthesia. We describe a cervical spinal cord biopsy performed using a percutaneous approach with a thin needle and fluoroscopic guidance. Laminectomy was not an option in this case because the patient was unwilling. On percutaneous biopsy, a positive diagnosis for astrocytoma was established, and the patient was treated successfully with radiotherapy. Although the relative safety of this procedure cannot be established with a single case, perhaps it should be further investigated in patients who either refuse or are unable to tolerate open biopsy. A 42-year-old woman was admitted to our institution with new onset of right upper and bilateral lower extremity weakness and bilateral upper and lower extremity numbness. Relevant medical history began 1 year before her admission to our institution when she presented at another institution with new left hemiparesis. At the time of her initial presentation, MR imaging of the brain revealed findings suggestive of infarction in the brainstem medulla. The patient began anticoagulation therapy and stroke rehabilitation, after which she experienced mild improvement. Two months later, her condition deteriorated, and she had recurrent right-sided sensory loss and new neck pain. MR imaging of the cervical spine disclosed a lesion intrinsic to the cervical cord extending from the medulla to the C7 level with associated cord expansion and posterosuperior enhancement. A spinal cord tumor was suspected. Open cord biopsy performed at the C7 level did not reveal any tumor or infection. CSF analysis had no findings indicative of oligoclonal bands or atypical cells. Follow-up MR imaging of the cervical spine revealed decreased edema and contrast enhancement. The presumptive diagnosis was transverse myelitis, and the patient had slight improvement after being treated with steroids. Two months later, the patient again presented with neck weakness, left arm spasms, and difficulty walking. MR imaging showed decreased edema and cord atrophy in comparison with the initial image. In addition, the contrast enhancement had shifted from a dorsal to a ventral location in the cord. She again responded favorably to steroid therapy and was eventually able to walk. On admission to our institution, MR imaging revealed an expansile lesion intrinsic to the cervical cord with signal hyperintensity at the Cl-C3 levels on T2-weighted MR images. Contrast enhancement in the upper cervical cord was predominantly anterior and to the right of midline (Figs. 1A and lB). Differential diagnostic considerations included tumor, multiple sclerosis, and transverse myelitis. Because of the renewed suspicion of tumor and the severity of the patient's symptoms. a second biopsy was considered necessary. She was reluctant to proceed with another open biopsy because the first attempt had been noncontributory.We presented the possibility of performing the biopsy using a fluoroscopically guided percutaneous approach. The procedure and possible complications were discussed with the patient and her family. The risks include spinal cord hemorrhage. edema resulting in progression of symptoms, necessity of emergency surgery, intubation, and death. Given her unresolved symptoms, she agreed to the procedure. The neurosurgery department would be on standby in case an emergency laminectomy was necessary. The anesthesiology department would provide light sedation and life support if necessary. Because of the eccentric location of the lesion, percutaneous biopsy was performed using a right lateral approach at the CI-C2 level. Under fluoroscopic guidance, a 22-gauge Wescott needle was directed toward the ventral third ofthe spinal canal and advanced until the needle tip was midline (Figs. IC and ID). Two passes of the needle were performed, which yielded small fragments of cellular material. The patient experienced no immediate compli-


The police have been criticized for underestimating the significance of racial attacks on members of Britain's ethnic minorities although reports suggest that these are increasing. Zig Layton‐Henry argues that the government's response to this problem, and to racial discrimination in general, has been inadequate. Black and brown citizens must feel that they do receive equal protection under the law.


The adsorption/degradation of caffeine and irgasan from aqueous artificial solutions by using. Lignocellulosic residues (LR) impregnated with TiO2 nanoparticles was studied. Three different LR were used: bamboo (Guadua angustifolia), laurel (Cordia allidora) and moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.), each one with three nominal particle size ranges: 75–149, 45–75, and ≤45 µm. Commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles were added to these residues using the wet impregnation technique. The chemical composition of the LR was determined according to ASTM standards. FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to determine the functional groups and morphology of the modified materials, respectively. Adsorption/degradation tests were carried out in batch systems as a function of adsorbent concentration, contact time, nanoparticle content on the impregnated residues and light type influence. The maximum adsorption capacity was (37.1 mg. g^−1/55.3 mg.g^−1), using 40 wt.% nanoparticle-impregnated ≤45 µm laurel residues during 180 minutes, for a (7.0/0.7 g.L^−1) concentration of (caffeine/irgasan). The caffeine adsorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir and Freundlich models, while the Freundlich model describes irgasan adsorption. The use of UV radiation accelerated threefold the removal process.


Optimization of microstructure for new generation advanced high strength steels(AHSS ) for automobiles was briefly reviewed.Two different heat treatments(quenching partitioning austempering/QPA and quenching partitioning tempering/QPT) have been investigated to obtain optimal microstructures,which are made up of martensite(hard phase),retained austenite(soft phase),and carbide or nano-bainite.Combination of hot stamping and newly developed heat treatments is discussed.


The need for an interdisciplinary approach in the emerging field of hate studies has recently been highlighted by Kenneth Stern. His working definition describes both a "diagnostic" and a "preventive/restorative" task for hate studies. What themes might emerge from the Bible when it is read in light of hate studies? The Psalms give a realistic account of what it means to have an enemy. The stories of Dinah and the Sons of Shechem in Genesis 34 and of Cain's Murder of Abel in Genesis 4 indicate that every human being stands in need of repentance and healing. David and Elisha each show that it is possible for enmity to give way to friendship and peace. The New Testament has many resources for diagnosing and transforming hate. A concluding section focuses on what Scripture has to say about (1) respect for human dignity, (2) friendship across sociological fault-lines, and (3) the connection between worship and justice.


Financial crisis and polarization caused by capital expansion have dragged financial law aiming to promote freedom and equality into a modern paradox: reality going away from target.To reconsider the value and function of financial law from the perspective of justice is of great significance so as to ease the tension of compliance and legitimacy of law and maintain law's authority.In the process of modernization of financial law,China should have a critical attitude towards western modernity,i.e.,to adopt its merits while criticize its demerits so as to have financial freedom and social order well interacted.


We report a case of a 29-year-old man with a rare condition, Coats plus syndrome, who was admitted to the geriatric rehabilitation unit due to his frailty and complex health issues. This case illustrates the potential benefit of admitting younger patients onto geriatric rehabilitation units, as this team has specialized skills that can engage young frail patients with complex care needs as partners in their own care decisions, helping them live in the present, adjust to changing circumstances, maximize their quality of life, and optimize positive experiences in the health care setting.


The collation of 26 summer sighting records over years 1975-77, 1984 and 1987-91 suggest that bowhead whales may occupy the northeastern Chukchi Sea in late summer more regularly than commonly believed. Key words: bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus , Chukchi Sea, outer continental shelf


The concept of utopia,which seems to have final conclusion,arouses people's interests again in the academic researches in recent years.The study on the relationship between utopia and ideology and the significance of Utopia in the socialist development,not only embodies people's reflections on history and reality,but also reflects the constant deepening of the researches on social sciences.


Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP), as functional polymers, have the ability to selectively recognize template molecules and have been widely used in various fields. Vanillin (VAN), an important taste component in food, can be found in the seeds of the tropical flower orchid. Based on the benefits of MIP and membrane separation technology, vanillin imprinted blend membrane was successfully created utilizing VAN as template molecule. MIP was employed for electrode modification to perform highly sensitive detection of VAN. The mechanics of imprinting, elution and electrode regeneration were explored. The adsorption behavior of vanillin on electrode was examined. Under optimal conditions, the MIP based electrochemical sensor can perform linear detection of VAN at 1×10-1×10 M. The detection limit is 5×10 M.


AIM:To evaluate the ability of microplate polybrene without a centrifuge(MPWC)in detecting hemolytic disease of newborn(HDN).METHODS:We used three methods,MPWC,Polybrene tube method(PTM)and Microcolumn gel technique(MGT),to detect hemolytic disease of newborn at the same time.RESULTS:Of the three methods,the time of testing,MGT is the longest,MPWC is longer than PTM when in detecting single,but with the increasing of samples,the MPWC is shorter than PTM.The ability of detecting HDN has no significant statistical difference among the three methods.CONCLUSION:MPWC is a rapid,simple,effective and efficient method without tube and centrifuge for detecting HDN.


This paper originates in the mass migration to avoid disaster in southern Shanxi,to review and summary the civic engagement problems at home and abroad. On the basis of the present situation of civic engagement in southern Shanxi,it analyzes some existing laws and regulations lack,loss of the principal position of immigration,communication barriers,single of the civic engagement form,and relevant solutions. The civic engagement is not only the migration assessment requirements in southern Shanxi,but also is the democratic process and the requirements of building a harmonious society at the present stage in China.


Measurements of volatile organic compounds in a pine forest (Central California, 38.90 • N, 120.63 • W, 1315 m) reveal large quantities of previously unreported oxidation products of short lived biogenic precursors. The emission of biogenic precursors must be in the range of 13–66 µmol m −2 h −1 to produce the observed oxidation prod-5 ucts. That is 6–30 times the emissions of total monoterpenes observed above the forest canopy on a molar basis. These reactive precursors constitute the largest fraction of biogenic emissions at this site, and are not included in current emission inventories. When oxidized by ozone they should efficiently produce secondary aerosol and hydroxyl radicals.


Marine microbial primary production is influenced by the availability and uptake of essential nutrients, including iron. Although marine microbes have evolved mechanisms to scavenge sub-nanomolar concentrations of iron, recent observations suggest that viruses may co-opt these very same mechanisms to facilitate infection. The "Ferrojan Horse Hypothesis" proposes that viruses incorporate iron atoms into their tail fiber proteins to adsorb to target host receptors. Here, we propose an evolutionary game theoretic approach to consider the joint strategies of hosts and viruses in environments with limited nutrients (like iron). We analyze the bimatrix game and find that evolutionarily stable strategies depend on the stability and quality of nutrient conditions. For example, in highly stable iron conditions, virus pressure does not change host uptake strategies. However, when iron levels are dynamic, virus pressure can lead to fluctuations in the extent to which hosts invest in metabolic machinery that increases both iron uptake and susceptibility to viral infection. Altogether, this evolutionary game model provides further evidence that viral infection and nutrient dynamics jointly shape the fate of microbial populations.


The ionic Ca content of expressed apple juice conceivably could be used to estimate the total calcium content of fruit flesh. To evaluate this method, samples of 2 strains of 'Delicious' apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) were analyzed at 2- to 3-week intervals, from 4 weeks after full-bloom until full-maturity. Ionic Ca in the juice (juice Ca) was analyzed with a selective electrode, total Ca in the flesh (flesh Ca) with a plasma emission spectrophotometer. The correlation coefficient between calcium concentration in flesh vs. juice was very low during the early stages of fruit development, but increased to +0.758 (significant at P<0.0l) for samples collected 5, 3, and 0 weeks prior to fruit maturity. The correlation was generally significant at P<0.01 when all sampling dates were used (r = 0.734 for 'Miller Spur', +0.928 for 'Starking', and +0.831 for both strains). The calcium concentration in juice samples taken within 35 days of physiological fruit maturity paralleled the calcium concentration in the flesh on any given date, but was not a reliable predictor of flesh Ca concentration in fruit harvested 2 to 3 weeks thereafter.


This volume contains the proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Polymer-Solvent Complexes and Intercalates held in Besancon, France in August 2000. As the reader will discover, results from various topics involving polymers, polyelectrolytes, polymer-like systems (self-assembling molecules, biological molecules), surfaces etc. were presented and discussed. They highlight the growing impact of this field on various scientific domains, and also the building of a scientific community concerned by the same questions.


The principle of operation and measurement results of a generator with direct frequency synthesis is presented. The generator is tuned within the 2-18 GHz frequency range. Its performance includes dense tuning steps, low phase noise level and coherent operation facility with a frequency standard signal.


In this paper a systematic review is conducted to investigate the structure, components, techniques, evaluation procedure, and comparison scope related to prior ABE-based studies. The undeniable role of accurate development effort estimation in the success of software project management has attracted the attention of researchers over the past few years. Among various algorithmic and non-algorithmic estimation methods, analogy based estimation (ABE) is a widely accepted method due to its simplicity and estimation capability. This paper investigates the improvement process of ABE method during 2000 to 2012. Six research questions are defined to be addressed through evaluation of prior ABE-based studies. The review domain includes 24 papers selected through a tough filtration process. The results show that improvement of ABE can be performed through adjustment, grey theory, attribute weighting and attribute selection techniques. Moreover, ABE configurations can significantly affect the results.


Abstract Purpose: Previous studies have revealed that macrophages affect the prognosis of glioblastoma. However, there are still many unknown parts about the mechanism. In this study, we conducted an experiment with the aim of elucidating the mechanism by which tumor associated macrophages (TAM) work on tumors in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Method: Experiments were carried out using two glioblastoma cell strains, T98G, and U251. For clinical data, we analyzed it based on databases such as Protein Atlas, Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas, brain TIME database. Results: In 3D culture, we confirmed that IL-1β stimulation promoted glioblastoma cell proliferation and sphere formation. The addition of IL-1β increased mRNA expression of various cytokines such as IL-6 and CXCL8, and increased phosphorylation of STAT3 in arrays. When we administered IL-6 and CXCL8, the growth was significantly increased in cells administered with IL-6 and CXCL8. As a result, we speculated that STAT3 pathway and NFκB pathway via IL-6 and CXCL8 are involved in cell proliferation by IL-1β. In order to confirm these things, western blot was performed, and it was confirmed that phosphorylation of STAT3 and NFκB were increased. In addition, STAT3 inhibitors and NFκB inhibitors suppressed tumor growth. Clinically analysis was carried out based on the database, and it was found that IL-1β and macrophages were related. Furthermore, IL-1β was found in many cases around tumor necrosis. Discussion: This study clarifies some of the effects of IL-1β on glioblastoma. However, there are still many unknown points, and it is necessary to continue to consider them in the future.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if traction on a catheter after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) reduces post-operative bleeding.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This prospective trial included 115 consecutive patients undergoing TURP. After resection patients were randomly selected to have either traction (57) or no traction (58) on the catheter for 30 min. Blood loss was measured during and for 2 h after the operation. A simple method for applying constant traction is described.

RESULTS
Catheter traction reduced post-operative bleeding while applied, but had no further effect after the removal of traction.

CONCLUSION
Catheter traction is a useful technique to aid the control of post-TURP bleeding.


As an UNIX user,whether they are preliminary learner or advanced programmer,they must master two aspects of content :the system calls which provided by operation system and other function bands.All of the function bands are implemnented via system calls evenfually.We can say that system calls are the basis of all programs in unix.In this paper,we take advantage of UNIX system call stat,monitor and record the charge of dynamically files.It makes user very clear that whether their files are charged.


In an article published recently, Waring et al. (2020) introduce a conceptual framework, named PROMISE, to explore controls on belowground carbon cycling. This "fundamentally novel approach to measuring and modeling critical carbon cycle processes" represents soil pore space as an array of possible particle locations belonging to one of three pore size classes. Several aspects of this conceptual framework raise questions about its adequacy to describe the fate of carbon in heterogeneous soils.


In today's global IP traffic trend, there are various service types that differ based on users' demands and technologies deployed in different regions. Besides real time entertainment services, there is also a rapid increase in demand to deliver best-effort services such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP), offline viewing, file sharing, and web browsing in a cost-efficient manner. Integrated fiber-wireless (FiWi) broadband access networks have emerged as a promising broadband access technology that can provide high quality e-services to large number of distributed wireless subscribers. In this paper, we deal with a converged 10-Gigabit capable passive optical network (XG-PON) and an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) based Wi-Fi architecture that incorporates an efficient deficit dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithm at the optical line terminal (OLT) to support different Quality of Service (QoS) needs of users efficiently. The performance evaluation of the integrated network is carried out in the NS-3 simulator and the results are reported in terms of delay and fairness index. It is observed that the performance of the integrated network is improved both in terms of average delay and fairness index up to a certain load.


Perinatal bilateral testicular torsion is an extremely rare surgical emergency and is subject of debate among surgeons. Urgent surgical exploration and fixation of the other testis are the key points in the management.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ajms.v5i4.9931 Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 2014 Vol.5(4); 103-105


In this paper, we propose a dynamic key technique based on Cellular Neural Network (CNN) for security improvement in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing passive optical network (OFDM-PON). To enhance the encryption scheme security, a six-dimensional CNN hyperchaotic system is employed to encrypt the data. And, the keys are divided into the dynamic and static. The dynamic key is randomly extracted from a key set by incorporating the random feature of the input data. Then, the chaotic sequence generated by the dynamic key is served as the synchronous sequence for encryption. Moreover, the chaotic sequences generated by the static keys are used to resist the chosen-plaintext attacks (CPAs) and scramble the phase of QAM symbols on the frequency domain. With these processing techniques, the multi-fold data encryption can create a key space of ∼10315 to protect against the exhaustive trial. The transmission of 10-Gb/s encrypted 16-QAM-based OFDM signal is demonstrated over 20-km single mode fiber (SMF) by experiment. The results show that our proposed scheme can provide excellent confidentiality of data transmission against the CPAs and brute-force attack.