This paper describes the design and realization of a surveillance radar signal processing system. The system is a single-board system based on two high-speed float-point DSP chips, TMS320C6701. Making full use of the powerful processing ability of TMS320C6701, the design has implemented most signal processing function, eliminated the special-purpose FFT and multiplier chips required in the traditional design. Compared with the traditional radar signal processor, this design is more concise, flexible, cost-effective and reliable.


Abstract The analysis of language use in real-world contexts poses particular methodological challenges. We codify responses to these challenges as a series of methodological imperatives. To demonstrate the relevance of these imperatives to clinical investigation, we present analyses of single episodes of interaction where one participant has a speech and/or language impairment: atypical prosody, echolalia and dysarthria. We demonstrate there is considerable heuristic and analytic value in taking this approach to analysing the organization of interaction involving individuals with a speech and/or language impairment.


Based on the research of the representative features,analyzing relevant causes of landslides at Zixi County,the author has calculated some parameters about the landslide stability in natural and saturated states by classic transmitting coefficient methods,respectively.The calculated result turns out that natural landslide is basically stable,while saturated landslide is unstable.According to geotechnical engineering investigation and practical landform analysis,an engineering treatment plan on landslide is designed with the measures of anti-sliding and stabilizing as well as surface drainage,and some effectiveness results are got in the construction.This landslide causes and treatment outlines could provide some good experiences for other rainfall-triggered shallow landslide prevention and treatment in this area.


ABSTRACT Based on an analysis of major recent social events in China, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2010 Shanghai World Expo, 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, and 2014 Beijing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference, mandatory, temporary, and indemnificatory quantitative policies aimed at protecting air quality, which were carried out by both central and local governments, made substantial contributions to changes and improvements in air quality. To some extent, the findings show that command and control measures play a significant role in protecting air quality, while the law and economic and voluntary environmental safeguard measures do not during major social events. Therefore, it reminds us the air quality could and will improve not only during major social events but also in the regular days if we implement appropriate environmental policies and safeguard measures.


This paper presents an overview of different modelling and simulation (M & S) methods used in water treatment. Special emphasis is on pulp and paper industry. In chemical water treatment, M & S is successfully used in control design. Hybrid models based on a cascade approach are needed in biological wastewater treatment to cover different operating conditions. Uncertainty handling needs to be included, since the measurement material is rather sparse, especially for on features of the influent and microbial composition.


The invention provides a suspension-core optical fiber-based gas absorption spectrum line reference device. Three standard optical fibers are coupled with each other through an optical fiber light-splitting coupler; light emitted from a light source enters a standard optical fiber and is split into two paths after passing through the optical fiber light-splitting coupler, wherein one beam of light enters a fiber core of a first suspension-core optical fiber which contains a gas with specified concentration, interacts with the gas in a pore passage of the suspension-core optical fiber, and enters a photodiode; the other beam of light is background light, and enters another photodiode after passing through the suspension-core optical fiber; electric signals generated by the two photodiodes enter a phase-locked amplifier for amplifying; and a gas spectrum line at the specified temperature and a specified concentration is given through a detection circuit. The device has a simple structure so as to miniaturize an instrument. An evanescent wave area can be increased remarkably by increasing the length of the optical fiber, so that the responsibility of the optical fiber to a reference gas is improved. Therefore, the device is widely applied to spectrum line calibration and spectrum reference on various occasions.


This article designs and studies a low-injection sheet beam extended interaction oscillator (EIO) circuit that uses TM51-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula> mode operation. Through the combination of theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, the mode characteristics and output characteristics of the circuit are studied. Theory and dispersion analyses on the designed EIO demonstrated that the special circuit structure and the optimized cutoff frequency effectively suppress nonoperating lower order modes. Only TM51-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula> mode can support effective beam–wave interaction in the designed EIO, which has a benefit of increasing the frequency and size of miniaturized devices. The designed EIO can achieve high-frequency microwave radiation output with higher energy under low injection (low current density and low voltage). At a certain surface loss, when an electron beam with 1 A and 19.6 kV is injected, the 0.36-terahertz (THz) radiation power of 200 W is achieved. The slow wave structure has been presented. The designed circuit structure can be applied to high-frequency THz radiation source devices.


I cannot remember a medical world without guidelines. Algorithms and "work-ups" have permeated my reading from day one and I have grown to like them. They are a helpful kind of pre-thinking and can lead to efficiency in practice. I'm hearing more and more about guidelines and, despite my fond experience with them, I'm having an adverse reaction to what 1 hear. Suspicion. Why suspicion? We have all experienced Newspeak. "Contributions" to Social Security sound like the kind we make to church or charities. To date, however, neither church nor charity have required employers to deduct them from our wages under heavy penalty for nonperformance, nor will we be arrested for failure to contribute. Yet, they remain "contributions." In like fashion, might practice "guidelines" become something more? Most likely. Voluntarism is rarely so heavily funded. For clues to the future, let us take a particular set of guidelines as exemplary of what is going on. In late 1989, the United States Congress created the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).' "The AHCPR has been given agency status within the US Public Health Service (PHS) similar t o tha t of t he National Institutes of Health (NIH)."' From humble beginnings in about 1930, the NIH began to grow exponentially in the mid-1950~~ The AHCPR was born at a status level similar to the NIH. Why am I already not reassured? "The agency has received funding to study the effectiveness of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies employed in health and medical care. More generally, the AHCPR funds analyses of the organization, financing, and delivery of health care services in order to enhance the quality, effectiveness, appropriateness, and access to such services. The agency is also charged with influencing health care policies through the development and dissemination of practice guideline^."^ One searches the US. Constitution in vain for the authority for another broad federal reach into the lives of private institutions and citizens. One turns aside elitist arguments that ordinary citizens cannot understand the supposedly esoteric language of the Constitution. The tenth amendment says, clearly, "those powers not ~ delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." Neither medicine, medical care, medical research, guidelines, DRGs, health security cards, nor anything like these are remotely in view for the population according to the Constitution. We can read English acceptably well without the tutelage of a government expert. As a generalist in medicine, it also immediately '


Reviewing the evidence for peer-delivered services, writing in 2004 in this journal, researcher Phyllis Solomon commented on the "high level of evidence" for peer-provided services, including four randomized studies and three quasi-experimental design studies using a variety of meaningful outcome measures (Solomon, 2004). The past two decades have witnessed a number of important studies of these models and services that meet these evidence criteria. For example, Paulson and his colleagues randomly assigned community mental health center clients to a peer-staffed Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)1 team, an ACT team staffed by non-peers, or services as usual (Clarke et al., 2000; Herinckx, Kinney, Clarke, & Paulson, 1997; Paulson et al. 1999). Results revealed no differences between the two ACT teams in participants' symptom severity or any clinical or social outcome for the first two years of service delivery. However, both ACT teams had significantly greater treatment retention than usual care. In another study, clients of a community mental health center were randomly assigned to peerrun intensive case management (ICM) versus non-consumer-run ICM teams (Solomon & Draine, 1995a, 1995b). At two years, clients of both teams had equivalent symptoms, quality of life, and a variety of clinical and social outcomes. Service delivery patterns differed, however, in that the consumer case management team provided more face-to-face services and services outside of an office setting than did the non-consumer team.


Introduction Although prior studies have supported the effectiveness of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) on addressing social, emotional, behavioral, and academic challenges faced by youth at-risk, educators using MTSS often do not consider contextual factors which may also influence youth at-risk and the interventions targeting them. This study thus aimed to identify youth at-risk who should be referred to targeted instructions within MTSS by examining the risk profiles of Korean adolescents. Based on the identified risk profiles, we also tried to investigate the effect of contextual factors on deciding youth at-risk and confirm whether and/or what contextual factors should be considered when implementing targeted interventions for them. Method To accomplish the research goal, a latent profile analysis on risk factors of Korean adolescents was performed, using the first year data of "Korean Children and Youth Panel Study (KCYPS) 2018." Results Four risk profiles were identified, using low academic motivation, low academic behavior, attention deficit, aggression, social withdrawal, and depression as indicators: the high risk, M-SEB (Moderate-social, emotional, & behavioral) risk, M-ACA (Moderate-academic) risk, and low risk group. The covariates of this study, home and school environmental variables, worked as predictors of adolescents included in the high group. Conclusion The results of this study suggest students in the high risk group (16.8%) should be given targeted instructions combining academic and SEB support within MTSS so as to prevent negative outcomes in the future among all adolescents. Those instructions need to be planned with consideration of contextual factors accompanied by teacher's careful understanding of social dynamics surrounding each student.


It is suggested that within the framework of second-order equation theory for fermions a universal connection between chirality and electric charge exists. More precisely, the components of any spinor field with positive chirality are always electrically charged and are subject to an electromagnetic gauge transformation whereas the components with a negative chirality are always electrically neutral, The universal weak interaction is of the type that changes the chirality, this being reflected in its axial vector structure as well as in the charge of the weak currents. The form of the Lagrangian for interaction with a pseudoscalar field is also considered for this theory. (auth)


Little is known about the early evolution of Venus and a potential habitable period during the first 1 billion years. In particular, it remains unclear whether or not plate tectonics and an active carbonate‐silicate cycle were present. In the presence of liquid water but without plate tectonics, weathering would have been limited to freshly produced basaltic crust, with an early carbon cycle restricted to the crust and atmosphere. With the evaporation of surface water, weathering would cease. With ongoing volcanism, carbonate sediments would be buried and sink downwards. Thereby, carbonates would heat up until they become unstable and the crust would become depleted in carbonates. With CO2 supply to the atmosphere the surface temperature rises further, the depth below which decarbonation occurs decreases, causing the release of even more CO2 . We assess the habitable period of an early stagnant‐lid Venus by employing a coupled interior‐atmosphere evolution model accounting for CO2 degassing, weathering, carbonate burial, and crustal decarbonation. We find that if initial surface conditions allow for liquid water, weathering can keep the planet habitable for up to 900 Myr, followed by evaporation of water and rapid crustal carbonate depletion. For the atmospheric CO2 of stagnant‐lid exoplanets, we predict a bimodal distribution, depending on whether or not these planets experienced a runaway greenhouse in their history. Planets with high atmospheric CO2 could be associated with crustal carbonate depletion as a consequence of a runaway greenhouse, whereas planets with low atmospheric CO2 would indicate active silicate weathering and thereby a habitable climate.


Alveolar macrophages and BDMCs undergo sequential biochemical changes during the chronic inflammatory response to chemically induced lung carcinogenesis in mice. Herein, we examine two chronic lung inflammation models—repeated exposure to BHT and infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis—to establish whether similar macrophage phenotype changes occur in non‐neoplastic pulmonary disease. Exposure to BHT or M. tuberculosis results in pulmonary inflammation characterized by an influx of macrophages, followed by systemic effects on the BM and other organs. In both models, pulmonary IFN‐γ and IL‐4 production coincided with altered polarization of alveolar macrophages. Soon after BHT administration or M. tuberculosis infection, IFN‐γ content in BALF increased, and BAL macrophages became classically (M1) polarized, as characterized by increased expression of iNOS. As inflammation progressed in both models, the amount of BALF IFN‐γ content and BAL macrophage iNOS expression decreased, and BALF IL‐4 content and macrophage arginase I expression rose, indicating alternative/M2 polarization. Macrophages present in M. tuberculosis‐induced granulomas remained M1‐polarized, implying that these two pulmonary macrophage populations, alveolar and granuloma‐associated, are exposed to different activating cytokines. BDMCs from BHT‐treated mice displayed polarization profiles similar to alveolar macrophages, but BDMCs in M. tuberculosis‐infected mice did not become polarized. Thus, only alveolar macrophages in these two models of chronic lung disease exhibit a similar progression of polarization changes; polarization of BDMCs was specific to BHT‐induced pulmonary inflammation, and polarization of granuloma macrophages was specific to the M. tuberculosis infection.


The chapter reviews cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological studies related to the cooccurrence of anxiety disorders and depression. Results suggest that anxiety disorders and depression tend to co-occur in 20% to 40% of patients. Explanations for increased co-occurrence considered include overlapping diagnostic criteria, genetics, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, negative affect/ temperament, perceived control, interpersonal mechanisms, and biases in information processing. According to most levels of analysis, there is more overlap with GAD and depression while specifi c phobias have the least overlap. Finally, data on the impact of depression on pharmacological and psychological treatments for anxiety disorders are reviewed. More work is needed to clarify the multiple interactive processes likely at play in the co-occurrence of anxiety and mood disorders and their treatment.


Due to the development of IT technology, harmful multimedia contents are spreading out. In addition, obscene and violent contents have a negative impact on children. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a multimodal approach for blocking obscene and violent video contents. Within this approach, there are two modules each detects obsceneness and violence. In the obsceneness module, there is a model that detects obsceneness based on adult and racy score. In the violence module, there are two models for detecting violence: one is the blood detection model using RGB region and the other is motion extraction model for observation that violent actions have larger magnitude and direction change. Through result of these three models, this approach judges whether or not the content is harmful. This can contribute to the blocking obscene and violent contents that are distributed indiscriminately.


This narrative article explores the current and emerging challenges facing the Defence Medical Services in delivering medical care in the face of the changing nature of conflict and the arenas in which they will be conducted. It is likely that there will be a need for the delivery of prolonged field care which will require innovation and research to face the potential challenges facing military pre-hospital care providers. Clinical interventions likely to improve measurable positive patient outcomes are discussed within the context of the current Defence Medical Services research strategy, evidence-based medicine, clinical capability gaps and further research opportunities. The potential benefit of exploiting physiological monitoring technologies to improve patient care and support remote clinical decision-making is presented as a proof of concept research programme.


Introduction Patients suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC) are at increased risk for developing colorectal. dysplasia as well as cancer.')14) Most epidemiologic studies have indicated an increase in the annual incidence of UC, despite UC-associated mortality decreasing ann~al ly .~ ' These observations have been interpreted as reflecting progress in medical and surgical management of UC and also changes in the natural history of UC.6) At present approximately 50% of deaths in UC patients are reported to be due to colorectal ~ a n c e r . ~ ) Therefore, in UC patients it is essential to make the diagnosis of colorectal cancer as early as possible and also to prevent colorectal cancer.


Hybrid mode-locking in monolithic quantum dot lasers is studied experimentally and theoretically. A strong asymmetry of the locking range with respect to the passive mode locking frequency is observed. The width of this range increases linearly with the modulation amplitude for all operating parameters. Maximum locking range found is 30 MHz. The results of a numerical analysis performed using a set of five delay-differential equations taking into account carrier exchange between quantum dots and wetting layer are in agreement with experiments and indicate that a spectral filtering element could improve locking characteristics. Asymptotic analysis of the dependence of the locking range on the laser parameters is performed with the help of a more simple laser model consisting of three delay differential equations.


The velocity dispersion of the ultra diffuse galaxy NGC1052-DF2 was found to be km s−1, much lower than expected from the stellar mass–halo mass relation and nearly identical to the expected value from the stellar mass alone. This result was based on the radial velocities of 10 luminous globular clusters that were assumed to be associated with the galaxy. A more precise measurement is possible from high-resolution spectroscopy of the diffuse stellar light. Here we present an integrated spectrum of the diffuse light of NGC1052-DF2 obtained with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), with an instrumental resolution of σinstr ≈ 12 km s−1. The systemic velocity of the galaxy is vsys = 1805 ± 1.1 km s−1, in very good agreement with the average velocity of the globular clusters ( km s−1). There is no evidence for rotation within the KCWI field of view. We find a stellar velocity dispersion of km s−1, consistent with the dispersion that was derived from the globular clusters. The implied dynamical mass within the half-light radius r1/2 = 2.7 kpc is Mdyn = (1.3 ± 0.8) × 108 M⊙, similar to the stellar mass within that radius (Mstars = (1.0 ± 0.2) × 108 M⊙). With this confirmation of the low velocity dispersion of NGC1052-DF2, the most urgent question is whether this "missing dark matter problem" is unique to this galaxy or applies more widely.


In this paper, a new Space-Time Block Coded Spatial Modulation (SM) scheme based on the Golden Code, called the Golden Coded Spatial Modulation (GC-SM), is proposed and analyzed. This scheme still keeps some main benefits of the Golden Code by satisfying the non-vanishing Space Time Block Code (STBC) criteria. In the signal constellation domain, the GC-SM spectral efficiency is twice that of the STBC-SM. In addition, simulation and theoretical results show that the GC-SM performance surpasses several SM schemes at the same spectral efficiency and antenna configuration. Furthermore, we study the impact of channel spatial correlation on the GC-SM performance. Finally, the GC-SM detection complexity is studied and compared with the existing SM schemes. DOI: 10.32913/rd-ict.vol2.no15.702


Creating new lexical terms by means of metaphor,which is one very important way of making new lexical terms,is to use metaphor which is based on the similarities between different things and the existing materials for word-creation.The rhetoric means of creating new lexical terms through metaphor falls into four kinds: front metaphoric mode,post metaphoric mode,middle metaphoric mode and integral metaphoric mode.All these lexical terms are used to express abstract meaning in concrete form and are of clear-cut emotional colors,presenting the local cultural feature of Changsha.


Background: Ab initio many-body methods have been developed over the past 10 yr to address closed-shell nuclei up to mass A≈130 on the basis of realistic two- and three-nucleon interactions. A current frontier relates to the extension of those many-body methods to the description of open-shell nuclei. Several routes to address open-shell nuclei are currently under investigation, including ideas that exploit spontaneous symmetry breaking. Purpose: Singly open-shell nuclei can be efficiently described via the sole breaking of U(1) gauge symmetry associated with particle-number conservation as a way to account for their superfluid character. While this route was recently followed within the framework of self-consistent Green's function theory, the goal of the present work is to formulate a similar extension within the framework of coupled cluster theory. Methods: We formulate and apply Bogoliubov coupled cluster (BCC) theory, which consists of representing the exact ground-state wave function of the system as the exponential of a quasiparticle excitation cluster operator acting on a Bogoliubov reference state. Equations for the ground-state energy and the cluster amplitudes are derived at the singles and doubles level (BCCSD) both algebraically and diagrammatically. The formalism includes three-nucleon forces at the normal-ordered two-body level. The first BCC code ismore » implemented in m scheme, which will permit the treatment of doubly open-shell nuclei via the further breaking of SU(2) symmetry associated with angular momentum conservation. Results: Proof-of-principle calculations in an Nmax=6 spherical harmonic oscillator basis for 16,18O and 18Ne in the BCCD approximation are in good agreement with standard coupled cluster results with the same chiral two-nucleon interaction, while 20O and 20Mg display underbinding relative to experiment. The breaking of U(1) symmetry, monitored by computing the variance associated with the particle-number operator, is relatively constant for all five nuclei, in both the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov and BCCD approximations. Conclusions: The newly developed many-body formalism increases the potential span of ab initio calculations based on single-reference coupled cluster techniques tremendously, i.e., potentially to reach several hundred additional midmass nuclei. The new formalism offers a wealth of potential applications and further extensions dedicated to the description of ground and excited states of open-shell nuclei. Short-term goals include the implementation of three-nucleon forces at the normal-ordered two-body level. Midterm extensions include the approximate treatment of triples corrections and the development of the equation-of-motion methodology to treat both excited states and odd nuclei. Long-term extensions include exact restoration of U(1) and SU(2) symmetries.« less


The investigations on soil bulk density,soil porosity,soil water holding capacity and soil water storage of broad-leaved forest were carried out in YangdongshanShierdushui provincial nature reserve in Lechang,Guangdong province.The results indicate that:(1) The soil bulk density of sample plots increased with the increment of soil depth,with the average of 0.79 ~ 1.08 g.cm-3 in the surface layer,and the average of 1.09 ~ 1.34 g.cm-3 in the layer of 0 ~ 100 cm.Basically,the soil bulk density of South West slope plots was less than that of North West slope plots.(2) Total porosity and capillary porosity of sample plots decreased with the increment of soil depth.The total porosity,capillary porosity and non-capillary porosity were 46.56% ~ 52.39%,35.80% ~ 39.41%,and 5.13% ~ 15.41% respectively in the layer of 0 ~ 100 cm.(3) The saturated water holding capacity and capillary water holding capillary of sample plots decreased with the increment of soil depth.The average saturated water holding capacity and capillary water holding capillary were 36.76% ~ 51.52% and 22.78% ~ 37.68% respectively in the layer of 0 ~ 100 cm.(4) The soil water storage capacity and the saturated water storage capacity were 41.31 ~ 153.55 mm and 446.63 ~ 504.27 mm respectively in the layer of 0 ~ 100 cm.


On the base of Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion,considering the effective restraint of cross section and the influence of uniaxial compression strength for concrete.It derives the new understanding of the ultimate bearing capacity for CFRP-steel concrete core pile.Through the comparison of document and research result,it demonstrates the correct for the new understanding.


Protein–protein interactions provide a fundamental mechanism through which cellular regulatory systems are organized, and specificity is imposed during signal transduction. Furthermore, the association of proteins into larger complexes supports the formation of more extended biochemical pathways and interaction networks that link and integrate different aspects of cellular behavior. The molecular principles that underlie protein–protein interactions also explain the ability of proteins to recognize specific phospholipids, nucleic acids, and second messengers, and, therefore, define a general theme in proteomics and cell biology.

Keywords:

protein–protein interactions;
phosphorylation;
domains;
signal transduction


Multiword chunk is actually "string of words" used together to express a completely certain meaning. Equally indisputable is the important role played by the string of words in the facilitation of communicative competence. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers of English to introduce the awareness of string of owrds and stress the importance of the acquisition of string of words in their teaching to improve users, language expression and enhance the mutual-action in language communication.


We performed an experiment of the 21Na(αp)24Mg reaction for the first time by a direct measurement with a thick target method. The studied energy was covered for high temperature conditions in X-ray bursts and core-collapse supernovae. The 21Na(αp)24Mg reaction could make a branch of the extended αp-process and could be important to understand the production of 22Na during the hydrogen explosion at high temperature, like in X-ray bursts, and the 44Ti production from core-collapse supernovae.


Objective:To approach operative modalities how to influence the prognosis on vulval malignancies.Methods:54 patinents with vulval malignancies treated in our hospital by operation were analysed retrospectively.35 received radical vulval resection combined with bi inguinal lymphnode dissection,19 were given radical vulva resection or local vulva resection.Results:The survival rate of 1,3,5,10,15 years was 98 1%,70 6%,47 6%,38 9%, 33 3% ,respectively;The survival rate of 1,3,5,10 years was 100 0%,68 4%,66 7%,75 0%,for stage Ⅱ patients,respectively and 100 0%,72 7%,45 5%,20 0% for stage Ⅲ patients;The survival rate of 5 years of patients with inguinal lymphnode positive and negative was 15 4% versus 90 9%.Conclusions:Clinical staging and metastasis of inguinal lymphnode were important factors influencing the prognosis of the disease. The operative modalities should be different for different stages, the patients of stage Ⅱ should be given the less injured and fewer complications operative modes,radical vulva resection and bi inguinal lymphnode dissection was the best choice for stage Ⅲ patients.


A need for more rapid and complete restoration of patency of the infarct-related artery, which is vital to preserving myocardium and improving survival in patients with acute myocardial infarction has led to develop new fibrinolytic drugs. Latest fibrinolytics are either conjugates of plasminogen activators with monoclonal antibodies against fibrin, platelets or thrombomodulin, or mutants and hybrids of alteplase and prourokinase (amediplase), while some of them are new molecules of animal (vampire bat) or bacterial (Staphylococcus aureus) origin. Compared with earlier fibrinolitics, caracteristics of later thrombolytic agents such as tenecteplase, monteplase, reteplase, lanoteplase, pamiteplase and staphylokinase are greater in patients with myocardial infarction, lengthen the drug's half-life and ability of single bolus application. Significant effects of these drugs on mortality have yet to be detected, while bleeding rate has been greater in some cases.


Curing hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection requires elimination of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). Interferon (IFN)‐γ has noncytolytic antiviral potential; however, elimination of cccDNA could not be achieved. To enhance the regulatory effect, we comprehensively analyzed the host factors associated with cccDNA amplification and IFN‐γ and IFN‐α effects using an in vitro HBV infection system showing various transcription levels.


The nature of micellar interaction and the interfacial behavior of the mixtures of the nonionic dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl polyglucoside surfactants with cationic dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride were studied by tensiometric observations. Various physicochemical properties such as surface activity parameters (CMC, γCMC, Amin), the micellar and interfacial composition (Xm, Xσ), interaction parameters (βm, βσ), and activity coefficients were evaluated. The micellar mole fractions were always higher than ideal values, indicating high contributions of cationics in mixed micelles. Activity coefficients were less than unity, indicating synergism in micelles. The negative free energies of mixing showed the stability of the mixed micelles of the surfactants. The data of wetting, foaming, and emulsion properties of mixed surfactant systems were also supporting the observation of the marked synergistic interactions between the micelles. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Horse stable and riding arena design , Horse stable and riding arena design , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی


In Quantum Mechanics, two particles are entangled if their physical states depend on one another's so that if we find one of them in state A, for example, we will be sure that the other is in state B. However, until the state of a quantum particle is measured, it will be in a superposition of states, being in neither one nor the other until then, so when an entangled particle is measured, its pair also assumes a state instantly and regardless of how far away it is from the other particle at that time. As promising as it could be to use this fact for instantaneous communication, Quantum Mechanics seems to claim this is impossible, as no method ever invented to do this has worked until today. What we demonstrate here theoretically is that with a protocol and simple optical devices, two people who share polarized entangled pairs of photons can send information to each other faster than light. If this model of communication proves to be experimentally functional, we will have a contradiction to Einstein's theories of relativity, and otherwise, we will have Quantum Mechanics predicting something that does not happen in real life. This result, therefore, shows there is something fundamental about the universe we do not know yet. One of these theories must be mistaken and both deal with fundamental aspects of reality, such as the dynamics of space and time, and the particles that almost all matter around us are made of. Besides, this result is of great relevance also because it has immediate applications in several areas if the model works experimentally, as in space exploration and security, since it will allow the creation of non-interceptable instantaneous communication technologies.


In today's society where information technology continues to develop and progress, China's education system is also constantly reforming and innovating. In the field of education and teaching, the application of information technology is more and more extensive, and the information-based teaching model will inevitably become the development trend of education. Flipped classroom is a new teaching method in recent years. The teaching model based on information-based teaching has been applied in the teaching of many subjects, but it is not widely used in physical education. Therefore, flipped classroom is introduced into the public physical education for analysis and research.


of magnetostatic forward volum wave (MSFVW) by a lift-off spaced "rip line transducer in a Yittrium Iron Garnet-Gadolinium Gallium Gama (YIG-GGG) layered structure sandwiched between two finite ground planes has onthe been derived. The effects of the RF magnetlpam magnetooptic WO) Bragg Cells arc studied using numerical computation. .. A general expmssiOn for the RF


This study aimed to measure the effect of roasting time on physicochemical properties and volatile compounds of unfermented cocoa liquor roasted with an oil bath method. Physicochemical properties (pH, temperature, and color), flavor, and volatile compounds were analyzed. The results showed that the longer the roasting time the higher the unfermented cocoa liquor's temperature, °Hue, and ΔE value, but lower pH and L value. There were 126 volatile compounds obtained by various roasting time, identified as pyrazines (12), aldehydes (16), esters (1), alcohols (31), acids (15), hydrocarbons (11), ketones (19), and others (21). At 15, 20, and 25 minutes of roasting time, 69, 74, and 67 volatile compounds, respectively, were identified. Volatile compounds' profiles were indicated to be strongly influenced by roasting time. The largest area and highest number of compounds, such as pyrazines and aldehydes, were obtained at 20 minutes, which was also the only time the esters were identified. As well as the time showed a very strong flavor described by panelists.


We study approximate topological matching of quadrilateral meshes, that is, the problem of finding as large a set as possible of matching portions of two quadrilateral meshes. This study is motivated by applications in graphics that involve shape modeling whose results need to be merged in order to produce a final unified representation of an object. We show that the problem of producing a maximum approximate topological match of two quad meshes in NP-hard. Given this result, which makes an exact solution extremely unlikely, we show that the natural greedy algorithm derived from polynomial-time graph isomorphism can produce poor results, even when it is possible to find matches with only a few non-matching quads. Nevertheless, we provide a "lazy-greedy" algorithm that is guaranteed to find good matches when mis-matching portions of mesh are localized. Finally, we provide empirical evidence that this approach produces good matches between similar quad meshes.


SUMMARY Crops of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Hereward) were grown within temperature gradient tunnels at a range of temperatures at either c. 350 or 700 μmol mol−1 CO2 in 1991/92 and 1992/93 at Reading, UK. At terminal spikelet stage, leaf area was 45% greater at elevated CO2 in the first year due to more tillers, and was 30% greater in the second year due to larger leaf areas on the primary tillers. At harvest maturity, total crop biomass was negatively related to mean seasonal temperature within each year and CO2 treatment, due principally to shorter crop durations at the warmer temperatures. Biomass was 6–31% greater at elevated compared with normal CO2 and was also affected by a positive interaction between temperature and CO2 in the first year only. Seed yield per unit area was greater at cooler temperatures and at elevated CO2 concentrations. A 7–44% greater seed dry weight at elevated CO2 in the first year was due to more ears per unit area and heavier grains. In the following year, mean seed dry weight was increased by > 72% at elevated CO2, because grain numbers per ear did not decline with an increase in temperature at elevated CO2. Grain numbers were reduced by temperatures > 31 °C immediately before anthesis at normal atmospheric CO2 in 1992/93, and at both CO2 concentrations in 1991/92. To quantify the impact of future climates of elevated CO2 concentrations and warmer temperatures on wheat yields, consideration of both interactions between CO2 and mean seasonal temperature, and possible effects of instantaneous temperatures on yield components at different CO2 concentrations are required. Nevertheless, the results obtained suggest that the benefits to winter wheat grain yield from CO2 doubling are offset by an increase in mean seasonal temperature of only 1·0 °C to 1·8 °C in the UK.


The beginning of the teaching career, marked by the passage of the student status to teacher, as a student towards professional represents the first step in the professional teaching development. This phase characterizes the beginning of the career of teaching as a time marked by many anxieties, discoveries, challenges, and attempts such as "trial and error" and also as a moment where the teacher lives a "clash of realities". This research refers to a study on the professional development of beginning teachers of Early Childhood Education. In order to understand this phase of his career and the subjects belonging to it we support on authors such as Garcia (1998; 1999; 2009), Huberman (2000), Tardif and Raymond (2000) and Lima (2006; 2011). We define research as problem understanding the challenges and dilemmas of the beginning teachers who work in Early Childhood Education from the municipal public network coverage of the 25th Regional Superintendent of Education Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil. In order to find answers to our research problem we establish the objectives to identify and analyze the dilemmas and tensions experienced by teachers of Early Childhood Education in the first years of professional development. As methodological research developed a predominantly qualitative approach. For the collection of data we decided to use a questionnaire, observation and semi-structured interview and for the exploitation of the data analysis we chose prose. The study found that beginning teachers of Early Childhood Education experience various dilemmas and tensions in the first years of his career that were identified in the speech by finding factors that lead to both charm and/or disenchantment. The enchantment comes when they reveal that they feel taken for being in the profession who they have always dreamed, to be working with students from the age group they identify and feel "love" for them, take a own classroom, able to receive and give affection realize that the experiences with classroom and contributed to the stages they would not get lost and they can turn to their peers to seek support. But, linked to these positive findings, there is the "disenchantment" revealed by them when they realize that the initial formation course not prepared them to work with this segment of education; when they notice that there is a significant distance between the theoretical knowledge and practice, before the difficulty of having no one to turn to and seek support in the classroom; and must improvise when faced with unexpected situations in the classroom. The research revealed the need to recognize the importance and necessity of building proposals, programs and activities of initiation to teaching in order to enable further approximation of educational practice in Early Childhood Education.


Chen Kai-ge's films not only have elegant narrations,picturesque dialogues and personal styles but also,willingly or unwillingly, follow the concept of the "negator going to his opposite".He uses the principles of the two things being both opposite and complement to each other and things negating themselves when they reach their limits,and gives a reflection on traditional culture and humanity.Thus he creates the beauty of image,embodying his film innovation and aspiration of aesthetics.


The relevance of the study is due to the fact that at present, in the context of ongoing integration in the economic sphere, an increasing number of local conflicts, often occurring on ethnic grounds, affecting the vital interests of the nation, knowledge and understanding of the ethno-cultural features of the development of the nation acquires a deep meaning. And here speech communication comes to the fore, as a way of interaction between representatives of different ethnic cultures, due to the peculiarities of the development of a particular person, her nationality.


The results of the authors' previous experiment on multiembossed holograms using a stamper whose master model is an echelette grating revealed a requirement for signals (molded grating grooves with different orientation angles and constant spatial frequency) with relatively uniform diffraction efficiency and weakened unwanted diffraction. The requirement can be written as d'/d >> 1 where d' is the groove width and d is the grating constant [1].

In this paper, the molding of grating grooves using stampers (d'/d = 0.12) of square cross section which satisfy the condition and the recording of the multi-embocsed hologram have been tested.

The uniformity of diffraction efficiency within one decade and the noise ratio (the ratio of the first-order diffraction efficiencies of the unwanted diffraction and the signal) below 0.6 have been obtained with a multi-embossed hologram (eight times). These characteristics are obtained by varying the value of the pressure when the temperature of the stamper is constant and are suited to the typewriter input type of recording. In addition, a suggestion for a stamper which is applicable to holographic memory for information retrieval is given (d'/d less than about 0.06).


This study was carried out in El-Gemmieza Agriculture Research Station, Agriculture Center, Horticulture Research Institute, El Gharbiah Governorate, Egypt, during two seasons 2020 and 2021. This study aimed to produce a new open field of F 1 squash hybrids under Egyptian conditions using 6 F 1 hybrids obtained from half diallel crosses. The results indicated that analysis of variance revealed highly significant for the mean squares of the parental lines for the studied traits. None of the F 1 hybrids had the highest values for all studied traits. Significant heterosis values versus mid and better parent were detected and showed highly significance for most studied traits. The values of SCA were larger than the corresponding values of GCA adverting pre-dominance of dominance gene effects with respect to most of studied traits. The best combiner parent was showed to have the significant positive magnitudes of GCA effects between P 1 and P 3 for most of studied traits. The best combinations for most of studied traits were observed in the following crosses; P 1 X P 3 ; P 1 X P 4 and P 3 X P 4 , which had the highest values of SCA. Broad sense heritability was higher than their corresponding in narrow sense heritability for all traits. The results showed that the recorded magnitudes of heritability in broad sense ranged from 94.29 to 99.65 % for days to anthesis first female flower and number of leaves / plant, while heritability in narrow sense ranged from 8.20 to 50.10 % for plant length and average fruit weight respectively. From the previous results, it could be recommended that the integration of these parents in genetic enhancement of summer squash programme directing to increase yield and quality traits.


Correspondence Eric Verspoor, Rivers and Lochs Institute, University of Highlands and Islands Inverness, Inverness, UK. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract 1. The full extent of sympatric intraspecific population diversity (SIPD) i.e. structuring into multiple genetically distinct Mendelian populations, remains uncertain for most lacustrine fish species, particularly in northern lakes. However, increasing application of molecular genetics is advancing understanding and has shown both that many known intraspecific sympatric lacustrine morphological and behavioural polymorphisms represent SIPD, and resolved the existence of phenotypically cryptic structuring. 2. Uncertainty remains as only a few northern lakes have been comprehensively surveyed and existing studies focus on known phenotypic polymorphisms or exploit ad hoc field sampling, marker selection and data analysis methods. Such unfocused approaches constrain resolving power and increase the likelihood of failing to detect SIPD when present. 3. Brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in a previously unstudied Scottish lake were collected by 3D stratified random netting. They were screened with both an arbitrary set of molecular markers and markers pre-selected for their ability to resolve regional allopatric brown trout population structuring and data analysed by both Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches. 4. Depth clines for mitochondrial and microsatellite markers variation were observed and found to arise from different, but overlapping, depth distributions of four genetically distinct piscivorous, limnetic, shallow benthic, and profundal benthic populations. This is the highest number of ecologically and phenotypically distinct sympatric brown populations identified in any lake to date, and includes the first reported profundal benthic form. 5. The detection of the SIPD in Loch Laidon depended critically on the random 3D sampling and using markers preselected for their power to differentiate regional allopatric populations of trout, as well as aided by using both Bayesian and nonBayesian analytical approaches. 6. The findings support the view that the extent of ecologically and evolutionarily significant SIPD is probably underestimated in brown trout and other fish species, and probably is a significant component of the biodiversity in many northern hemisphere lakes.


This paper analyses the main developing models of city agriculture,puts forward the characteristics,functions and developing models of Tianjin coastal city agriculture.


The paper investigates the importance of external factors in the domestic interest rate determination process and measures the openness and adjustment speed of Malaysian financial market. It also seeks to capture the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis 1997 (AFC) and the Malaysian government approaches to the crisis onto the process. Ordinary Least Square estimation method is employed on the time series data of domestic interest rates, foreign and domestic variables. Results of this study indicate the external factors are dominant in the domestic interest rate determination pre-AFC, but post-AFC domestic variables appear to affect most. In addition, the paper found that Malaysian domestic market is less opened with limited speed of foreign adjustment post-AFC.


Objective To investigate the changes of fasting serum leptin and insulin level in obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) patients and to study the correlation between serum leptin level and insulin resistance in OSAHS patients.Methods Polysomnography was examined during sleep,and fasting plasma glucose,serum leptin level and insulin level were determined in 50 OSAHS patients and 50 age-matched normal controls.Results (1)Compared with control subjects,serum leptin level,fasting insulin level and HOMA-IR were significantly higher in OSAHS patients.(2)In OSAHS patients,serum leptin level,fasting insulin level and HOMA-IR were positively correlated with AHI,the longest apnea/hypopnea duration and microarousal index,and negatively correlated with the minimum oxygen saturation.(3)In OSAHS patients,serum leptin level was positively correlated with fasting insulin level and HOMA-IR.Conclusion (1)Serum leptin level was significantly higher in OSAHS patients,and serum leptin level was correlated with the severity of OSAHS.(2)OSAHS might correlate with insulin resistance of BMI independently.(3)Serum leptin level was correlated with insulin resistance in OSAHS patients.


Abstract: The serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine significantly reduced levels of endogenous 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5‐HIAA) in brain perfusate of rats implanted with push‐pull cannulas. This occurred in conjunction with its suppressant effect upon fixed‐ratio operant behavior. Behavior suppressed with the serotonin agonist lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) occurred in conjunction with a reduction of 5‐HIAA only after 5‐HIAA was elevated, shortly before, by 5 mg/kg of the serotonin precursor 5‐hydroxytryptophan. Our data demonstrate the likely existence of multiple functional pools of serotonin in brain and support the notion that LSD preferentially affects a newly synthesized pool of this transmitter.


As the concrete industry is growing day by day, it may be certain that increasing demand may create burden on core substances like cement, sand and aggregates. In this study, a substitute material (marble dust) has been taken which will partially replace cement in concrete pavement. Marble dust is a waste product which comes from marble industry during cutting process, leaving it as it is will create environment issues. Also for increasing strength carbon fiber is introduced in concrete pavement. Carbon fiber is having a low body to weight ratio and high strength, So a long lasting pavement can be obtained. Keeping in view the strength parameters, reinforcement of concrete will multiple pavement properties greatly. Unlike steel reinforcement which is prone to rust and deteriorate concrete properties with age. In present study M40 grade of concrete is designed for rigid pavement having watercement ratio 0.40, it was found that the compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength increases compared to concrete without fibers.


The Anthropocene age is marked by increased human impacts on the natural environment. As social beings, humans interact with each other, and with their surrounding environments, often through organizations and institutions. Religion and the polity are among the most influential human institutions, and they tend to impact the natural environment in several ways. For instance, several thinkers have claimed that some of the central ideas of the Abrahamic traditions, such as the concept of "Domination of men over the earth," are among the causes of several anthropogenic environmental problems. By contrast, some of the ideas of non-Abrahamic, particularly animistic, religions are found to be associated with environmental conservation and stewardship. The polity can also contribute to environmental problems. The relationship between political organizations and environmental degradation, at any level of analysis from local to global, is well studied and established in the literature. Politicizing the natural environment, however, is not without tradeoffs. Environmentalism, by certain groups of people, is considered as a "stigma," while it is a central concept in the political ideology of another part of the population. This antagonism is harmful to the environmental protection cause. I make the case that religion, or at least a number of religious ideas, can be conducive to the process of depoliticizing the natural environment. In this paper, I strive to draw a theoretical framework to explain how religion and the polity can mutually impact the natural environment.


It is shown that a space- and time-dependent optical signal can be recorded in a thin hologram using a reference wave produced by a moving diffuser. Expressions are obtained for the spatial and temporal resolutions of the reconstructed signal. Experimental results obtained by this method are described.


In this paper we propose a method to accurately estimate effects of partial shading on a small-scale PV system. Current of each PV string is measured and along with the output voltage of the PV array are used in order to estimate the shading intensity and shaded area of the array. First, the string current variations are used to recognize partial shading condition (PSC) and estimate shading intensity. Later, using the output voltage variations, shading factor is calculated. The proposed system is then simulated under two scenarios and the method is verified by the simulation results. These findings help us find the best location for small-scale PV systems; a place where there is minimum shading. Keywords—photovoltaic systems (PV), partial shading condition (PSC), shading intensity, shading factor


I finished reading this book late at night and lay sleepless and flabbergasted that someone so obviously intelligent, who understands evolutionary theory so well, and is capable of explaining it so cogently, could end up with the bizarre conclusions that Francisco Ayala draws about science and religion. There are two threads to this book. One is Ayala's argument that Darwin's most significant contribution to science was not the theory of evolution itself, or even the origin of species, but the concept of natural selection. This discovery, he concludes, completed the Copernican revolution by bringing the understanding of the design and diversity of organisms into the realm of science. He suggests that Darwin's real aim was to solve Paley's problem of how organisms are designed, and that but for certain accidents of history, and the concepts of the scientific method prevailing in Darwin's time, this might have been more widely recognized. He even suggests that, had things gone slightly differently, some of the twentieth century's clashes between religion and science might have been avoided. He tells the extraordinary story (extraordinary to those of us who do not live in the United States) of the battles over evolution and religion in American schools, quoting extensively from Judge John E. Jones' eminently sensible conclusions in the Dover Area School District case. The second, and major, thread—the one that inspired the book's title—is that there is no conflict between the science of evolution and religious belief; this is why Darwin's work was a gift to both. This is clearly Ayala's main aim: ''to persuade people of faith as well as other readers that there need be no antagonism between evolution and religious beliefs''. To make his case, Ayala devotes a large part of the book to explaining the basics of evolution in an easy and engaging way. He explains Paley's argument from design and how the theory of natural selection makes design possible without a designer; he deals with the problems of blending inheritance, the role of randomness and chance in evolution, and explores the principles of the scientific method and why evolution by natural selection is a powerful theory in the best scientific sense and not, as in everyday parlance ''just a theory.'' Theology and Science, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2008


The article considers trends and development prospects of mobile marketing as interactive technology sales promotion; analyzes the methods and the potential of mobile marketing.


The CSIRO Global Climate Model set up was used to conduct attribution experiments to investigate the impact of changes in long-term radiative forcing due to solar variability, increasing CO, and stratospheric ozone depletion on the regional rainfall trends. Results show that both increasing CO and decreasing stratospheric ozone contribute to observed mean sea level pressure changes in the Southern Hemisphere, with ozone having the strongest impact during the austral spring and summer, and CO during the austral winter. Furthermore, CO and ozone changes have opposite effects on rainfall changes in eastern Australia and the South Pacific Convergence Zone.


Objective To Study of in situ polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of canine parvovirus(CPV) in Feline Kidney F 81 cells.Method Feline kidney F 81 cells were cultured in slide and infected with CPV. The cells infected with CPV in different stages were detected by direct in situ PCR, which used biotin labelled primers, and immunohistochemical method. Result In situ PCR method, a lot of signals were found in cells infected from 12 to 48 hours. Some signals were found in cytoplasm, and some in nucleus. In immunohistochemical method, no signals were found in cells infected for 12 hours, and sporadic signals in cells infected for 48 hours. The signals detected by these two methods showed significant difference. Conclusion The results indicate that the in situ PCR not only has high sensitivity, but also can locate the position of virus.


The electron spin resonance (ESR) in CuCrS2 disulphides is found to be strongly dependent on a synthesis method used. At a temperature of 300 K, a polycrystalline CuCrS2 sample is paramagnetic with a g-value of 1.95 at 40 K, it undergoes the magnetic transition. In the temperature range 4.2–290 K, a single-crystal sample prepared by a chemical vapor transport method exhibits the ESR features typical of a ferromagnet. It is shown that these features are related to the presence of a small amount of the single-crystal CuCr2S4 impurity in the CuCrS2 single crystal.


The Baumann capillary suction apparatus, the cryoscopic osmometer, and moisture sorption isotherms were used to measure the water-binding capacity (WBC) of several macromolecular food grade hydrocolloids. Although each method was able to distinguish between ingredients of different WBC's, the values obtained by the three methods were very different from each other. A significant correlation was only found between the osmometer data and the moisture sorption data at aw= 0.98, while neither method correlated with the WBC as determined by the Baumann method. The Baumann method was found to give the best prediction of a hydrocolloid's relative WBC in a low fat meat emulsion food system when compared to the typical WBC methods used for meats. Xanthan gum was found to be the best gum in retention of added water.


Video-on-demand is a video service system that can provide video data for users. Video server is the most important part of the VoD system. With the development of technology, the request to video servers performance is becoming higher and higher. But, because of the differences of implementations, there aren't evaluation standards for the video servers. This paper comes up with some evaluation standards for video system, analyses the standards , and gives a software implementation for the testing.


These notes are an elaboration on lectures given during the third week of the 2009 Clay Mathematics Institute summer school on Galois representations. These lectures, in conjunction with lectures given by Joël Beläıche [Bel09], attempted to explain how Galois representations have been used to prove results in the direction of the Bloch-Kato conjectures for values of L-functions. The topics covered in the author's lectures mostly related to Iwasawa theory and the exploitation of the Galois representations associated with automorphic representations (or families thereof) in the proofs of instances of the Iwasawa-Greenberg Main Conjectures and their concomitant consequences for special value formulas.


Principle of the new instrumental methods of the biochemical diagnostics of the development of the autoimmune status in diabetics through the registration of the formation of the specific immune complexes of insulinanti-insulin antibody (Ag-Ab) and vice versa with the help of the biosensor based on the structured nano-porous silicon (sNPS) is proposed. In spite of the traditional methods of the proposed approach may provide the express control as in special laboratory and domiciliary with the simple procedure of analysis fulfillment and with the minimum consumption of the materials.


OBJECTIVE
Investigate differences in the prevalence and severity of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) after cardiac surgery via thoracotomy versus sternotomy are not well-understood.

DESIGN
An observational cohort study.

SETTING
A tertiary care hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Four hundred twenty-eight patients (sternotomy: 192 patients, thoracotomy: 236 patients) who underwent mitral valve repair.

INTERVENTIONS
A questionnaire about the severity of surgical wound pain evaluated with a numerical rating scale (NRS) was sent. NRS responses for current pain, peak pain in the last four weeks, and average pain in the last four weeks were evaluated.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
The main outcomes were the severity of CPSP evaluated using NRS and the prevalence of CPSP. CPSP was defined as pain >0 that developed after a surgical procedure. During the median follow-up of 29 months, 79 patients complained of CPSP. (sternotomy: 15 patients, thoracotomy: 64 patients). Multivariate ordinal logistic regression showed that NRS responses for current pain (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.17; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.64-6.12; p = 0.001), peak pain in the last four weeks (aOR, 2.00; 95% CI 1.11-3.61; p = 0.021), and average pain in the last four weeks (aOR, 2.21; 95% CI 1.31-3.72; p = 0.003) were significantly higher in patients who underwent thoracotomy. Multivariate logistic regression showed that thoracotomy was an independent predictor of CPSP (aOR, 3.63; 95% CI 1.67-7.88; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence and severity of CPSP were higher among patients who underwent mitral valve repair via thoracotomy than sternotomy.


Low-strength magnetic fields triggered onset and offset evoked potentials, indicating that the detection process was a form of sensory transduction; whether the field interacted directly with an ion channel or indirectly via a signaling cascade is unknown. By analogy with electrosensory transduction in lower life forms, we hypothesized that the evoked potentials were initiated by a force exerted by the induced


Background There is diversity in clinical presentation of pediatric onset SLE (pSLE) and the manifestations are more severe as compared to adults. Males comprise 4-22% of all SLE patients. Gender distribution of pSLE is 4.5-5: 1 (female-to-male) as opposed to 9-10: 1 (female-to-male) in the adult population. However male patients have been known to have a more severe disease with higher morbidity, especially due to renal causes. Objectives To evaluate clinical and immunological profile and outcomes in a follow up series of males with pediatric onset SLE Methods We analyzed the clinical and immunological profile and outcome of male patients diagnosed with SLE at less than 16 years of age. These children were followed-up in Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic, Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical education and research, Chandigarh, India. Details on demographic data, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, immunological profile, treatment regimens and outcomes of these children were retrieved from clinic files. Results Forty-three boys were diagnosed to have SLE between January 1998 to December 2018. Mean age at presentation was 9.7 years (range: 9 months-12 years). Total patient years of follow up was 192 years. The most common clinical presentation was fever in 38 (88%) patients; rash in 27(63%); pallor in 21(49%); edema with urinary abnormalities in 17(40%) and photosensitivity in 16 (37%). A diagnosis of lupus nephritis was made in 25 (58%) patients out of which 17 (39.5%) had nephritis at presentation. Renal biopsies were performed in 18 patients; 11 had class IV disease, 2 had class 5 disease, 2 had class IV/V. Neuropsychiatric manifestations were seen in 11 (26%) patients- 7 of these had symptoms at presentation. Seizures were the predominant manifestation in 9 patients (21%)-6 of these had MRI changes consistent with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome while 3 had cerebral infarcts. Other central nervous system abnormalities included psychosis (1 patient) and chorea (1 patient). We also noted a family history of lupus like illness in 4 patients and 3 (6.9%) were found to have early complement deficiencies. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLA) were detected in 8 (18.6%)patients - anticardiolipin antibody was positive in 8 and lupus anticoagulant was positive in 6. Dual aPLA positive was seen in 6(13.9%) and triple positive was positive in none. Infections were seen in 16 (37%) patients during follow-up. All patients received steroids in gradually tapering doses along with hydroxychloroquine following a diagnosis of SLE. Cyclophosphamide was given for induction in 13 patients who had severe forms of lupus nephritis. Remission was maintained through azathioprine in 8 patients and 8 required Mycophenolate mofetil. Ten patients (23%) had a relapse on therapy -1 had CNS relapse, 3 had renal relapse, 2 had muco-cutaneous relapse and 4 had hematological relapse. Six fatalities (14%) were recorded during follow-up -1 with severe disease activity and neuropsychiatric manifestations, 1 had disseminated tuberculosis, 1 had CNS flare with status epilepticus, 4 had sepsis. Conclusion This is one of the largest series on boys with pediatric onset SLE from a developing country. It appears that while the severity of lupus nephritis in boys is no different from that in girls, neurological disease is more severe in the former. Further, boys appeared to have earlier onset of neuropsychiatric lupus as compared to girls. The incidence of complement deficiency lupus was also more in boys. Mortality in boys with SLE appears to be comparable to our previously published mortality data on pSLE(1). References [1] Abujam B, Gupta A, Suri D, Rawat A, Singh S. Trends and predictors of mortality in childhood onset lupus in a single North-Indian centre over 23 years: a retrospective study. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2016;34(3):554–9. Disclosure of Interests None declared


This study aimed to investigate the effect of using a combination of
 ipguk (koji) and zeolite, as an
 alternative to the traditional nuruk fermented agents and rice
 and rice husks combination, on off-flavor suppression in solid fermented
 spirits. In alcohol production from solid fermented mash, the traditional
 brewing combination (nuruk + rice husks) produced over
 1.3 times more alcohol than that obtained using the alternative combination
 (ipguk + zeolite). The levels of acetic, butyric,
 isovaleric acids, and methyl mercaptan, the components causing the offensive
 odor of distilled liquor (25% alcohol), were significantly reduced upon using
 the alternative combination as compared to that by the traditional combination.
 The acetic acid level decreased from 99.38 mg/L to 19.34-24.12 mg/L when using
 the alternative combination. Butyric acid, isovaleric acid, and methyl mercaptan
 levels decreased from 95.90, 5.37, and 426.78 mg/L, respectively, to
 undetectable levels. The furfural content decreased up to 4.3 times. In
 contrast, acetaldehyde levels increased from 228.04 mg/L to 529.74-578.71 mg/L
 when using the alternative combination. As the moisture content of the
 solid-fermented mash prepared with the alternative combination increased (from
 40 to 55%), the alcohol production also increased proportionally, and the
 alcohol content of the distillate was elevated (from 37.14 to 43.74%).


This paper studies a municipal credit agency, which is a specialized financial institution facilitating municipalities' access to international capital markets. I document that gaining access to the agency's credit facility decreases municipal borrowing costs compared to commercial bank loans. Built in the agency's lending terms, I find support of a coinsurance mechanism across municipalities. Nevertheless, net gains of improved credit access must dominate since almost all municipalities have voluntarily joined. Finally, I could not detect evidence that a municipality's participation in such a municipal credit agency adversely affects its fiscal discipline.


In this paper an evaluation of different modulations techniques that combine switching frequency modulation and interleaving is presented. The objective of these modulations is to cancel certain harmonics of EMI and to reduce the amplitude of the remaining harmonics. A four channel parallel buck converter has been used in order to evaluate the modulations proposed. According experimental results, significant reduction of EMI is possible by combining both techniques instead of using them separately.


The aggregate query is widely used in query processing over data stream.Data stream systems often have to process multiple aggregate queries,since executing each query separately can lead to significant scalability and performance problems,it is extremely important to share resources of these similar queries by computing the common tasks only once.This paper presents Optimized Paired Window Aggregation for aggregate queries with varying time windows.According to the parameters of time windows,queries can be classified into different groups,all the queries in the same group are scheduled at the same time,and then paired windows chop a stream into unequal slices.This approach reduces the required buffer size by having relatively small number of slices and reduces the computation cost by re-evaluating the similar queries.Experiments show that this algorithm has good performance.


New Zealand's no-fault compensation system for medical injury is characteristic.It is of very important significance to relieve the victim of medical injury timely and effectively.The main role in the system is the accident compensation committee(ACC) of the government.The system is applicable to domestic and foreign New Zealander,dweller and temporary visitor.The system's presentation consists of service and money.The applying domain of the system is expanding and the applying procedure is simple.The money of the system mainly comes from the funds allocated by the government.In this paper we introduce the evolution and presentation of New Zealand's no-fault compensation system for medical injury so as to do help for no-fault compensation system for medical injury in China.


We use Simonenko quantitative indices of an $\Cal N$-function $\Phi$ to estimate two parameters $q_\Phi$ and $Q_\Phi$ in Orlicz function spaces $L^\Phi[0,\infty)$ with Orlicz norm, and get the following inequality: $\frac{B_\Phi}{B_\Phi-1}\leq q_\Phi\leq Q_\Phi\leq \frac{A_\Phi}{A_\phi-1}$, where $A_\Phi$ and $B_\Phi$ are Simonenko indices. A similar inequality is obtained in $L^\Phi [0,1]$ with Orlicz norm.


A benchmark problem of a cylindrical insulator with a wet and dry band is formulated. An analytic solution was obtained and numerically evaluated and compared with the solution obtained from a finite-difference technique. The agreement was found to be excellent.


Saturation effects in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy are discussed. The discussion is limited to Raman-resonant CARS (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{21}$, where ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l,s}$ are the frequencies of the pump fields with powers ${P}_{l,s}$, and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{21}$ is the frequency of the Raman transition $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|2〉$) with the possible addition of a one-photon resonance (${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$ is the frequency of the electronic transition $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|3〉$). For these cases we show that the CARS polarization ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}$ is proportional to the off-diagonal density-matrix element ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$. In order to determine ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$, we use Laplace transforms to solve the Bloch equations for the effective two-level system $|1〉$ and $|2〉$ when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}$ is far from resonance, or for the three-level system $|1〉,|2〉$, and $|3〉$, when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$. The steady-state expression for ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}$ in the former case gives ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}{P}_{s}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ at low powers and ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{0}{P}_{s}^{\frac{\ensuremath{-}1}{2}}$ at high powers. In the three-level system, we show that when the pressure is low and at least one field is weak, the slow time dependence of ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{21}$ must be considered. When one field is strong and the other weak, the CARS spectrum is Stark split. When ${P}_{l}$ is high, for example, ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{0}{P}_{s}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ for ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}$ and ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{({P}_{l}{P}_{s})}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ when ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{V}_{13}$ where ${V}_{13}$ is the one-photon Rabi frequency for the $|1〉\ensuremath{\rightarrow}|3〉$ transition. The Wilcox-Lamb approximation is used to reduce the three-level Bloch equations to rate equations containing one- and two-photon terms. When the fields are so weak that both one- and two-photon terms are small compared to the decay terms, the usual expression for ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}$ is reproduced. If only the direct two-photon processes are important, the effective-two-system results are reproduced. When both fields are intense and nearly resonant, the steady state is rapidly achieved. The results for the case where one field is much stronger than the other are essentially the same as those for one strong and one weak field. When the fields are of comparable strength, ${\mathcal{p}}_{\mathrm{CARS}}\ensuremath{\propto}{P}_{l}^{\frac{1}{2}}{P}_{s}^{0}$ for ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{l}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{31}$ and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{s}\ensuremath{\simeq}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{32}$, and the CARS spectrum is split into five components.


A series of excavations on the fissure deposits at Baeryan(27°22′12″N,105°15′16″ E),Bijie Municipality,Guizhou Province,have been carried out since 2001.Some Gigantopithecus teeth and many mammalian fossils were uncovered.The bottom of deposits measures 1630 m above sea level,or 40 m above nearby river surface.The Artiodactyla uncovered from the deposits are as follow: "Dicoryphochoerus " ultimus,Muntiacus sp.,Cervavitus? fenqii,Cervus(R.) cf.C.(R.) unicolor,Budorcas sp.,Caprinae gen.et sp.indet.,Gazella sp.,Leptobos(Smertiobos) sp.The artiodactyls from Bijie have five same taxa as those from Gigantopithecus Cave of Liucheng and Longgudong of Jianshi,three or less as those from Longgupo of Wushan,Danawu of Yuanmou and Renzidong of Fanchang.It implies its age should be between that of the Gigantopithecus Cave and Longgudong and,likely,the early stage of the early Pleistocene.Based on the habitats and nature of artiodactyls,the identified taxa from Bijie imply an eco-environment with both jungles and open grass lands(slopes),enchased with some forests and water areas and in a subtropical-temperate climate,very favorable for inhabitation of higher primates as Gigantopithecus.


All the colored crystallographic and icosahedral point groups that obey the van der Waerden and Burckhardt definition are tabulated here, using a symbolism based on a suggestion of Shubnikov and Koptsik. Each asymmetric domain of the object has a single color - or scalar quality. The symbol of each colored point group G(H' | H) contains G, the geometrical point group of the object; its sub-group H' that is the point group of each of the object's monochromatic domains; and H, the invariant subgroup of G that is the intersection of all the conjugate subgroups H'. If H' and H are the same, the symbol G(H' | H) is changed to G(H). If H is chiral, so is the colored point group. If G is not chiral, but H is, the chirality is only chromatic. These phenomena are listed in the table. If more color permutations are possible than occur in the operations of a colored point group, different arrangements of the same colors on the same geometrical object are fundamentally different: these are called diamorphs of each other; their number is listed. 'Color', as used here, symbolizes any scalar property that can vary from one asymmetric domain to another.


The prestressed rectangular beam units were introduced to complement the precast reinforced concrete U-Slabs. They ranged in span from 4.5 m to 10.7 m. The use of prestress enabled a shallower unit to be used for a given span. These were developed for bridging over irrigation channels, where minimising structural depth was important to maximise the waterway area and reduce the probability of trapping debris without having to raise road grade lines and bridge lengths. There are approximately 1100 of these bridges on the VicRoads arterial road network, and a similar number on the local road network. In addition, Victorian rural water authorities have a number of these bridges that are not on the public road system.


Patterned octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was fabricated on silicon substrates, utilizing short wave UV irradiation meter (λ=184.9nm) as the photolithograph apparatus under the cover of the photomask. The patterned BiFeO3 were prepared on the functional OTS-SAMs by sol-gel method. The characterization of the samples patterns was carried out by various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS). The results indicate that the pattern BiFeO3 thin films were successfully prepared on the functional OTS-SAMs by sol-gel method and the thin films were BiFeO3 thin films with hexagonal perovskite distorted structure which has clear boundaries and 200µm deposited lines width.


One of the oldest questions in paleoanthropology concerns what "stages," or body shapes and adaptations, characterized our ancestors over the course of human evolu-tion. In the early half of the 20th century, leading scholars debated whether humans evolved from an ancestor that was a large ape, a small ape, a monkey-like arboreal or terrestrial quadruped that walked on all fours, or a succession of several of these mod-els. These models diverged widely because they were primarily based on comparative anatomy of primates and hypotheses about which modern primates were most closely related to modern humans (see review and references in Richmond et al. 2001). For example, Charles Darwin's colleague Thomas Henry Huxley (1863) concluded that humans and great apes must be closely related because of the anatomical similarities they share. Sir Arthur Keith and William King Gregory shared this view and, in the 1920s, were the first to explicitly argue that early human bipedalism evolved from a large-bodied ancestor with an orthograde (i.e., upright-bodied) "troglodytian" (chimpanzee-like) climbing mode of locomotion, which itself evolved from a "hylo-batian" (i.e., gibbon- or siamang-like) brachiating ancestor. Gregory (1927, p. 3) commented that in human anatomy he saw "a veritable museum of relics of a former arboreal condition." At the other extreme, Wood Jones (Keith's student) argued that the human lineage had a much deeper split from the lineages leading to other modern primates, and concluded that humans had evolved from a small, monkey-like arboreal creature or perhaps even a prosimian-like vertical clinger and leaper. At the heart of


ABSTRACT By reminding human beings that they are earthly creatures who depend on the habitability of their planet, the Anthropocene is changing our relation with time. On the one hand, looking backward, it confronts us with the abyss of deep time; on the other hand, the future itself acquires a threatening quality as the possibility of a 'hothouse Earth' becomes increasingly plausible. I focus on the impact that such perceptive disruption has on green utopian thinking. The effect is paradoxical. Those who cling to an alarming account of the Anthropocene can offer only a renewed version of the austere ecotopia envisioned by early environmentalism – a modest utopia organized around frugality. However, the so-called ecomodernists take the opportunity provided by the new geological age to offer a genuine utopian vision: one that does not break with the present but rather improves it dramatically.


This story is about how a Toll Authority with a less than stellar credit rating can fund and implement a project that involves proponents and opponents with very high profiles. The story involves the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the Atlantic City Expressway and Atlantic City itself. Like in a real poker game with many hands, more than one player can walk away with winnings.


We report photometry with ISO between 60 and 200m of six galaxies. Three of them are active and the ex- tension of their spectra beyond the IRAS bands up to 200m conrms our previous conception that most of the dust there is warm and has a fairly uniform temperature of 30K. In the other three galaxies which are inactive, we detect a very cold component (10K and less) that could hitherto at best be sur- mised.Themostdramaticconsequenceisathreefoldincreasein the mass of interstellar material over what one would calculate without the ISO data.


Children standing on an outrigger canoe in a Fijian village, taken ca 1890s by Thomas Andrew.
Inscriptions: Photographer's title on negative - bottom left: 39
Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s).
Physical Description: Albumen print 14.2 x 19.8 cm mounted on card 17.9 x 25.4 cm


The invention discloses a multi-effect skin caring and smoothening traditional Chinese medicine lotion which is characterized by comprising, by weight, 35-45 parts of lightyellow sophora root, 35-45 parts of common cnidium fruit, 28-33 parts of Chinese gall, 35-45 parts of baical skullcap root, 18-22 parts of cattail pollen, 75-85 parts of ganoderma lucidum, 110-130 parts of cortex mori, 35-45 parts of milkvetch root, 35-45 parts of radix rehmanniae, 35-45 parts of oat, and glycerin which is 0.5-0.56 times of the aforementioned materials by weight, with the balance being clean water for extraction. The multi-effect skin caring and smoothening traditional Chinese medicine lotion made from natural and environment-friendly materials has stable and reliable effect and wide application range, especially has good effects in removing freckle, wrinkle and acne, whitening, moisturizing and healing skin injury, and can not only be used to delay aging of skin and repair injury to skin caused by some hormone drugs and cosmetics but also reduce and even remove face splash, acne and wrinkle to make skin smooth, bright and elastic.


In this study, a number of new immittance simulators employing a single current follower current conveyor (CFCC) and three passive components are proposed. First, six new circuit configurations have been introduced which can simulate lossy immittances of different types using a single CFCC along with a canonical number of passive and active components. Subsequently, with a little modification in the hardware of the CFCC, three other new circuits have been introduced which can simulate a variety of lossless immittances without any component matching constraints or requirement of additional active elements. When the passive resistors are replaced with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) voltage controlled resistors, electronic tunability of the simulated immittances is available in all the cases. Several application examples of some of the proposed simulated immittance circuits have been presented and their workability has been verified using PSPICE simulations based on CFCC implementable in 0.18 μm CMOS technology.


Dioxygenases catalyze dioxygen incorporation into various organic compounds and play a key role in the complex degradation pathway of mono‐ and polycyclic aromatic and hetero‐aromatic compounds. Here we report the crystal structure of gentisate 1,2‐dioxygenase from Silicibacter pomeroyi (GDOsp) at a 2.8 Å resolution. The enzyme possessed a conserved three‐dimensional structure of the bicupin family, forming a homotetramerization. However, each subunit of GDOsp unusually contained two ferrous centers that were located in its two homologous cupin domains, respectively. Further mutagenic analysis indicated that the enzyme activity of GDOsp depends on the microenvironment in both metal‐binding sites. Moreover, homologous structural comparison and functional study on GDOsp variants unveiled a group of functionally essential residues and suggested that the active site of the enzyme is located in the amino‐terminal domain, but could be influenced by changes in the carboxyl domain. Therefore, GDOsp may provide a working model for studying long‐distance communication within a protein (or its complex).


This paper deals with a two-warehouse inventory policy with continuous release and two-level credit period in an infinite planning horizon. A retailer, the owner of two warehouses, offers and accepts a credit period to the customer and from the wholesaler, respectively. Duration of offering credit period is less than that of accepting credit period. The demand of the customers is considered stock dependent. Depending upon the time of offering and accepting credit periods and with respect to the time of exhaust of inventory in the two warehouses, different scenarios have been depicted. Here, decision variables are business periods for rented and market warehouses. The model has been formulated as a profit maximisation problem with respect to the retailer and optimised using the non-linear optimisation technique - generalised reduced gradient (LINGO) method. Optimal solutions under different scenarios are illustrated numerically and graphically.


Deed for a town lot sold from the estate of Parker Smith to W. C. Greer. Document written by executor for the estate. E. D. Johnson.


Objective
To investigate the related risk factors for hospital-acquired lower respiratory infection in patients with hematologic malignancies after chemotherapy.

Methods
The 287 patients with hematologic malignancies from April 2011 to October 2013 were selected as the subjects, the clinical data and related laboratory tests were collected, the risk factors for hospital-acquired lower respiratory infection were analyzed though the single factor and multi-factor Logistic regression analysis.

Results
Among the 287 cases, 47 cases showed lower respiratory infection, the incidence of infection was 18.6%; multiple myeloma had the highest infection rate, the infection rate was 24.1%, the proportion of infections in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia was the most larges, accounting for 40.4% of all infections; 59 strains of pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the 47 cases including gram-negative (G-) bacilli, gram positive (G+ ) cocci, fungus, accounting for 57.6%, 28.8% and 13.5% respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae, e. coli and staphylococcus aureus were the most common three pathogens. Multi-factor classification Logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR=1.683), smoking index (OR=3.217), serum albumin (OR=2.764), granulocyte absolute value (OR=4.525), the ECOG score (OR=3.136), QOL score (OR=2.875), preventive use of antibiotics (OR=1.864), hospitalization stays (OR=3.871) were high risk factors for hospital-acquired lower respiratory infection in patients after chemotherapy.

Conclusions
A variety of mixed high factors can lead to hospital-acquired lower respiratory infection in patients with hematologic malignancies after chemotherapy, measures of infection control should be strengthen to control all kinds of risk factors, in order to reduce the incidence of patients with lower respiratory tract infection.

Key words:
Hematologic malignancies; Lower respiratory tract infection; Risk factor; Hospital infection


Instructor: Dr. Larry P. Ammann Office hours: Th 4-5pm, others by appt. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Office: ECS 3.904 Phone: (972) 883-2161 Text: Modern Applied Statistics with S, 4 Ed. Authors: W.N. Venables and B.D. Ripley These notes are copyrighted by their author, Larry P. Ammann, and are intended for the use of students currently registered for Stat 6341. They may not be copied or used for any other purpose without permission of the author.


The hardwired point to point cabling that has been the mainstay of data handling on naval ships is slowly but surely giving way to more advanced techniques that include data bussing and high speed switching networks.

The U.S. Navy's AN/USQ-82(V) Shipboard Data Multiplex System (SDMS) is now installed and operating for technical and operational evaluation purposes on USS Oldendorf, a DD 963 class destroyer. The distributed switching system "SITACS" introduced at ASNE Day 1982 has now been breadboarded. In the foreign arena, NATO standard bus and network interfaces are being implemented in Norwegian, United Kingdom and Canadian shipboard systems. These developments are reviewed, and projections are made regarding future trends in naval data handling systems.


The concept of feedback regulation has often been invoked as one basis for integrative functions in complex neuronal systems. Among the factors that might influence a feedback circuit are chemical ones, since conditions affecting the availability of transmitter substances may alter the efficiency of synaptic transmission. A prerequisite for conducting studies on chemical-neuronal interactions would be knowledge about the nature of the transmitter contained within a particular neuronal system. This requirement sharply limits the available field of inquiry in brain, since direct histochemical identification of transmitter content has been achieved only in the case of the monoamine neurons. These comprise less than 1% of all the neurons in the mammalian central nervous system. Dahlstrom and Fuxe' first provided evidence for the existence of monoamine-containing neurons in brain by means of the formaldehyde-condensation histochemical method.' Neurons of the brainstem raphe nuclei were shown by this method to be the principal, if not the only, neurons in the central nervous system to contain the monoamine, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine). Ascending fibers originating from midbrain raphe neurons were found to supply the principal serotonin-terminal input to the f ~ r e b r a i n . ~ We have taken advantage of the fact that the presumed serotonin-containing neuronal perikarya are clustered in the central portions of the raphe nuclei (FIGURE 1). Single cell recordings can, therefore, be made from these areas with a high degree of certainty as to the histochemical identity of the cells under study. On this basis we proceeded to look for possible correlations between biochemical changes in serotonin, histochemical alterations in raphe cell fluorescence, and the firing rate of single raphe neurons. It had been found by Dahlstrom and Fuxe' that inhibition of monoamine oxidase, which markedly increases brain serotonin concentration, leads to an enhancement of raphe cell fluorescence. We confirmed these histochemical findings and studied a variety of monoamine oxidase inhibitors in terms of possible effect on the rate of firing of raphe neurons. We found that monoamine oxidase inhibitors representing various structural categories (e.g. the hydrazines, iproniazid, and nialamide, and the nonhydrazines, pargyline and tranycypromine) were all effective in depressing the firing of raphe neurons. This change was usually evident within 15-30 minutes after drug administration, a period during which there is rapid accumulation of serotonin in brain.s By contrast, neurons in neighboring areas (e.g. central grey, reticular formation, and interpeduncular nucleus) were unaffected. These results suggested the existence of an inverse relationship between serotonin concentration and the rate of firing of raphe cells. However, monoamine oxidase inhibitors are not entirely specific, since they also elevate the concentration of brain catecholamines. Therefore, the raphe depression after monoamine oxidase inhibitors cannot necessarily be attributed to the increase in serotonin. Clearly, more selective methods than the use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors are required to establish the existence of an inverse relationship between raphe firing and serotonin concentration. One possibility would be use of immediate precursor of serotonin, 5-hydroxytryptophan. This substance is known to enter brain and, in loading doses, to cause an increase in serotonin levels there.s However, we found that


Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) level increases in several physiological conditions, such as pregnancy, aging or high physical activity. Furthermore, alterations of cfDNA concentration and genetic or epigenetic (e.g. DNA methylation) patterns can also be observed in pathological processes, as inflammatory diseases or different cancer types including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, studies about quality changes of cfDNA aimed to analyze its fragment length profile and DNA methylation pattern are lacking. We aimed to define the quantity and quality changes of cfDNA, including concentration, fragment length distribution and global DNA methylation pattern during high physical exercise, and in colorectal adenoma and cancer patients. Moreover, we aimed to investigate the treatment response in plasma of metastatic CRC (mCRC) patients analyzing the above-mentioned parameters and the DNA methylation level of SFRP2 gene during therapy. Plasma fraction was separated from blood samples of 6 healthy athletes before, during and after physical training, and from healthy (n=16), adenoma (n=13), IBD (n=19), and CRC (n=16) patients. Moreover, plasma longitudinal assessment was performed in the case of 20 mCRC patients treated with chemotherapy. CfDNA level was quantified with Qubit 1.0 (Thermo Fisher Scientific), fragment length distribution was examined by 2100 Bioanalyzer instrument (Agilent), and global DNA methylation level was measured with bisulfite pyrosequencing of long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) (Qiagen) in all samples. Besides, DNA methylation status of SFRP2 gene was determined with droplet digital PCR (Bio-Rad) in mCRC plasma samples. Increased cfDNA amount was observed during physical exercise (198.5±90ng), in comparison with control phase (86.3±40.6ng), and then in restitution period, lower cfDNA level (155.6±119.3ng) was detected. Elevated cfDNA amounts have been found in plasma of adenoma (72.1±37.5ng), IBD (78.0±50.9ng) and CRC (84.5±70.1ng) patients compared to controls (36.2±11.3ng). CfDNA fragment length distribution showed different patterns in each sample group, longer fragments (200-600bp) enriched in AD and CRC samples in addition to short ( Citation Format: Barbara K. Bartak, Krisztina Andrea Szigeti, Alexandra Kalmar, Orsolya Galamb, Zsofia Brigitta Nagy, Sara Zsigrai, Zsolt Tulassay, Peter Igaz, Magdolna Dank, Bela Molnar. Analyses of cell-free DNA alterations in physiological conditions and colon diseases for screening, diagnostics and therapy follow-up [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 1276.