This research is aimed at comparative study of English and Russian phraseology and semasiology. It provides new scientific approach to the solution of one of the most complex problems of comparative study of the phraseological material of different languages on the semantic level. This work is of great importance as it helps to define similarities and distinctions in the language picture of the world and reveal the peculiarities of different languages. It also allows to investigate ways of reflection of reality into language which gives the chance to study language picture of the world.Our research suggests that component analysis method, based on the criteria of identity and difference of seme organization of phraseological units, provides a more complex and in-depth analysis of the description of the semantic structure of phraseological meaning in English and Russian. Over 1750 phraseological units have been analysed from monolingual and bilingual phraseological dictionaries, English and Russian explanatory dictionaries to describe the structure of English and Russian phraseological units, identify stable semantic correlations between them. We further reveal three types of interlingual phraseological compliances / non-compliances: semantic equivalents, semantic analogues and partial semantic analogues. The results show strongly expressed quantitative prevalence of semantic analogues over semantic equivalents. The quantity of semantic analogues exceeds the quantity of semantic equivalents by 0.5%, which can be explained by the peculiarities of the development of the two remotely related languages. Our further study could address the comparative investigation of ways of the translation of phraseological units with no direct equivalents (culture-specific vocabulary) in other languages, which would enable translators to provide the interpretation which is more or less adequate and close to the original meaning.

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


A network telescope is a portion of routed IP address space in which little or no legitimate traffic exists. Monitoring unexpected traffic arriving at a network telescope provides the opportunity to view remote network security events such as various forms of flooding denial-of-service attacks, infection of hosts by Internet worms, and network scanning. In this paper, we examine the effects of the scope and locality of network telescopes on accurate measurement of both pandemic incidents (the spread of an Internet worm) and endemic incidents (denial-of-service attacks) on the Internet. In particular, we study the relationship between the size of the network telescope and its ability to detect network events, characterize its precision in determining event duration and rate, and discuss practical considerations in the deployment of network telescopes.


Purpose - To provide empirical evidence on the level of savings that can be attained by joint route planning and how these savings depend on specific market characteristics.Design/methodology/approach - Joint route planning is a measure that companies can take to decrease the costs of their distribution activities. Essentially, this can either be achieved through horizontal cooperation or through outsourcing distribution to a Logistics Service Provider.The synergy value is defined as the difference between distribution costs in the original situation where all entities perform their orders individually, and the costs of a system where all orders are collected and route schemes are set up simultaneously to exploit economies of scale.This paper provides estimates of synergy values, both in a constructed benchmark case and in a number of real-world cases.Findings - It turns out that synergy values of 30% are achievable.Furthermore, intuition is developed on how the synergy values depend on characteristics of the distribution problem under consideration.Practical implications - The developed intuition on the nature of synergy values can help practitioners to find suitable combinations of distribution systems, since synergy values can quickly be assessed based on the characteristics of the distribution problem, without solving large and difficult Vehicle Routing Problems.Originality/value - this paper addresses a major impediment to horizontal cooperation: estimating operational savings upfront.


Introduction: Seizures are common reasons for neurologic consultations and investigations. In the absence of magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography scanning of the brain is a reliable and cheaper alternative. Little is known about the pattern of brain lesions in patients with recurrent seizures in Nigeria. Objectives: To determine the pattern of significant intracerebral lesions in patients presenting with recurrent seizures in a tertiary hospital in Enugu. Methods: All the medical and computer tomography records of patients with a clinical diagnosis of recurrent seizures were reviewed. The study duration was 11 years (January 2003 to December 2013). Relevant data were obtained and statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 19 and GraphPad Prism 6. Results: The diagnostic yield of CT was 55.1%. Twenty (9.3%) individuals had two lesions each. The significant findings were tumors (20.4%), encephalomalacia (18.9%) and strokes (7.7% (ischemic stroke, 4.1%, intracerebral hemorrhage, 3.1%, subarachnoid hemorrhage/intraventricular hemorrhage, 0.5%). Hydrocephalus (HCP) was found in 18 (9.2%) cases, and 30% of them occurred together with other lesions. The diagnostic yield increased with age reaching 84.4% from the age of 60 years. Only patients with encephalomalacia were statistically older than those with normal imaging. Conclusion: Computed tomography scan has a high diagnostic yield, especially in elderly patients with recurrent generalized seizures. Brain tumors, encephalomalacia, and HCP are most common causes of recurrent seizures in the adults.


The Southeast Asian environment has been degraded by the release of industrial and domestic wastes, agricultural and aquacultural chemicals, and pollutants from automobiles. It suffers from water-related disasters, Tsunami, floods, typhoons, etc. In order to deal with these issues an integrated approach from the inhibitants, governments and researchers is essential.

The environmental threats arising from the increasing population, overuse of natural resources, industrialization, urbanization, and natural disasters present ever increasing challenges to pursuing sustainable development of the region. Many developed countries such as Japan have experiences of dealing with severe environmental pollution and this publication is the result of building an academic network among researchers of related fields from different regions to exchange information.

The most important articles presented at the Second (Vietnam 2004) and the Third (Thailand, 2005) International Symposiums on Southeast Asian Water Environment have been selected for this book.

This book will be an invaluable source of information for all those concerned with achieving global sustainability within the water environment in developing regions, including researchers, policy makers, NGOs and NPOs.

This title belongs to Southeast Asian Water Environment Series

ISBN: 9781843391241 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780402291 (eBook)


We investigate the dynamical behavior of a class-B, bidirectional, solid-state ring laser with a square-wave modulated pump. Our treatment includes the coupling of oppositely directed traveling wave modes via backscattering in addition to their coupling via the gain medium. We find that depending on the pump ratio and the depth and frequency of modulation, the intensity waveforms of the two oppositely directed modes may exhibit periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic behavior. We also find that although the periodic waveforms of mode intensities are antisynchronized, chaotic waveforms may be synchronized or unsynchronized. A detailed map of different operating regimes as functions of frequency and depth of modulation is presented. Curves are presented to illustrate the behavior.


This paper seeks to draw out the continuities and ruptures in current English education policy. In particular it seeks to consider the relationship between Coalition policy rhetoric and that of the Labour party. Although the paper is concerned with the British and more specifically English context, it examines a range of questions that move beyond that particular setting. Exploring as it does the way in which we can understand crisis and the manner in which this informs policy discussion and the re-ordering of neo-liberalism. In conclusion, it argues that the presumed radicalism of the Labour party can only take us so far, and that an examination of policy for its progressive and radical possibilities whatever their origins is an important site of struggle.


The T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire encodes immune exposure history through the dynamic formation of immunological memory. Statistical analysis of repertoire sequencing data has the potential to decode disease associations from large cohorts with measured phenotypes. However, the repertoire perturbation induced by a given immunological challenge is conditioned on genetic background via major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphism. We explore associations between MHC alleles, immune exposures, and shared TCRs in a large human cohort. Using a previously published repertoire sequencing dataset augmented with high-resolution MHC genotyping, our analysis reveals rich structure: striking imprints of common pathogens, clusters of co-occurring TCRs that may represent markers of shared immune exposures, and substantial variations in TCR-MHC association strength across MHC loci. Guided by atomic contacts in solved TCR:peptide-MHC structures, we identify sequence covariation between TCR and MHC. These insights and our analysis framework lay the groundwork for further explorations into TCR diversity.


RATIONALE
A previous short-term study showed that a computer-based training in eating and nutrition increased the probability for hospital inpatients at undernutrition (UN) risk to receive nutritional treatment and care without increasing overtreatment (providing nutritional treatment to those not at UN risk). The aim of this study was to investigate if a computer-based training in eating and nutrition influences the precision in nutritional treatment and care in a longer-term perspective.

METHOD
A preintervention and postintervention study was conducted with a cross-sectional design at each time points (baseline and 7 months postintervention). Hospital inpatients >18 years old at baseline (2013; n = 201) and follow-up (2014; n = 209) were included. A computer-based training was implemented during a period of 3 months with 297 (84%) participating registered nurses and nurse assistants. Undernutrition risk was screened for using the minimal eating observation and nutrition form-version II. Nutritional treatment and care was recorded using a standardized protocol.

RESULTS
The share of patients at UN risk that received energy-dense food (+25.2%) and dietician consultations (+22.3%) increased between baseline and follow-up, while fewer received oral nutritional supplements (-18.9%). "Overtreatment" (providing nutritional treatment to those not at UN risk) did not change between baseline and follow-up.

CONCLUSION
The computer-based training increased the provision of energy-dense food and dietician consultations to patients at UN risk without increasing overtreatment of patients without UN risk.


Coral reefs are being degraded worldwide by perturbations that range from local distur- bances to large-scale climate forcing. To gain insight into possible responses of the fish community to losses of live coral, we surveyed large plots that represented the range in cover of live coral in lagoons of Moorea, French Polynesia, to explore relationships between cover of live coral and 3 attributes of the associated fish community: species richness, total abundance, and species composition. All mea- sured attributes of the fish community were insensitive to changes in live coral cover over a wide range before falling sharply as live coral cover approached zero. A field experiment in which the per- centage of living tissue of branching coral was varied while total coral volume and structural com- plexity were kept constant revealed a rapidly asymptotic relationship of fish richness with increases in cover of live coral that was qualitatively identical to the pattern documented in our surveys. There was qualitative agreement in the pattern of abundance response of fish with variation in cover of live coral between the experiment and field surveys. While the structural heterogeneity provided by coral skeletons can influence the local fish assemblage, the experiment reported here demonstrates that the amount of living coral tissue alone can have a substantial effect on the structure of the fish assem- blage. Taken together, the results suggest that local fish assemblages could be resistant to variation in abundance of live coral, changing significantly only as coral becomes rare, while recovery may occur with only modest increases in live coral.


The oxidative DNA damage caused by oxygen free radicals is one of the most important mechanisms responsible for the initial steps of colorectal carcinogenesis. The oxidative stress can cause errors in the pairing of nitrogenous bases that form the DNA, allowing mutations in controlling genes of the cell cycle. The cells have a defense system represented by the DNA mismatch repair genes that correct the errors of matching prevent the development of DNA mutations. Few studies have evaluated the relationship between oxidative DNA damage and the tissue expression of mismatch repair genes. AIM: The aim of the present study was evaluate the levels of oxidative DNA and the tissue expression of MLH1 mismatch repair gene in the cells of normal and neoplastic colonic mucosa of patients with colorectal cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Were studied 44 patients with diagnosis of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Were excluded patients with hereditary colorectal cancer, with colorectal cancer associate with inflammatory bowel diseases and those undergoing neoadjuvant radioquimiotherapy. To evaluate the levels of oxidative DNA damage was used the single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) evaluating 100 cells obtained from normal and neoplastic tissues. For the evaluation of the tissue expression of MLH1 gene was employed the technique of polymerase chain reaction in real time (RT-PCR) with primer specifically designed for MLH1 gene. The comparison among the levels of DNA oxidative stress and expression of MLH1 mismatch repair gene in normal and neoplastic tissues was done by Student t test adopting a significance level of 5% (p< 0.05). RESULTS: The levels of oxidative DNA damage in tumor tissue were significantly higher when compared to the level of the normal tissue (p = 0.0001). The tissue expression of MLH1 mismatch repair gene in tumor tissue was significantly lower when compared to normal tissue (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: The mismatch repair gene MLH1 are less expressed in tumor tissue and inversely related to levels of oxidative DNA damage.


This paper evaluates the impact of the Chilean Supplier Development Program, aimed at improving and stabilizing the commercial linkages between small and medium-sized suppliers and their large firm customers, during the period 2003-2008. Applying propensity score matching and difference-in-differences, we find that both groups of firms benefited from the coordination efforts. The program increased sales, employment, and the sustainability of small and medium-sized suppliers. It also increased the sales of large firms and raised their ability of becoming exporters. We also find that the timing of the effect is different for suppliers and large firms. While the effect on suppliers appeared one year after the firms enrolled in the program, the effect on large firms took two years to appear.


Adrenal crises (AC) are life-threatening physiological disturbances that occur at a rate of 5–10/100 patient years in patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI). Despite their seriousness, there is a paucity of information on the epidemiology of AC events in the paediatric population specifically, as most investigations have focused on AI and ACs in adults. Improved surveillance of AC-related morbidity and mortality should improve the delineation of AC risk overall and among different subgroups of paediatric patients with AI. Valid incidence measures are essential for this purpose and also for the evaluation of interventions aimed at reducing adverse health outcomes from ACs. However, the absence of an agreed AC definition limits the potential benefit of research and surveillance in this area. While approaches to the treatment and prevention of ACs have much in common across the lifespan, there are important differences between children and adults with regards to the physiological, psychological, and social milieu in which these events occur. Education is considered to be an essential element of AC prevention but studies have shown that ACs occur even among well-educated patients, suggesting that new strategies may be needed. In this review, we examine the current knowledge regarding AC events in children with AI; assess the existing definitions of an AC and offer a new definition for use in research and the clinic; and suggest areas for further investigation that are aimed at reducing the incidence and health impact of ACs in the paediatric age group.


The Shimanto Belt of SW Japan is an accretionary complex which developed between Late Cretaceous and Late Miocene. The deeper levels of this complex are exposed along the Gokase River of eastern Kyushu. Deformation in this region took place as a result of southeasterly directed accretionary thrusting, resulting in the development of folds, fabrics and mélanges. All these structures may be attributed to progressive, top to the SE shearing and the mélanges show many similarities to other rock types in fault or shear zones. It is also possible to apply shear zone models to explain extensional structures developed perpendicular to thrust transport direction. It is suggested that deformation took place during underplating beneath the developing prism.


The main objective of this evaluation is to identify lessons from IDB's support to secondary education policies and systems in LAC since 1995, with a particular focus on quality of education and learning outcomes. The evaluation will review the IDB's dialogue with countries on educational policies; the design, execution and results of IDB-financed education operations; and the building of education-related knowledge and capacities. Findings will seek to identify factors affecting the success of interventions in different contexts, and to provide Management and client countries with specific recommendations on how the IDB could approach the sector going forward. Data sources include literature reviews and background papers, the IDB secondary education lending portfolio, country case studies, existing impact evaluations on secondary education-related topics, EDU and SCL economic and sector work reports, and key-informant interviews of stakeholders, IDB education sector specialists and other relevant IDB staff.


Background— In the Early Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibition in Patients with Non–ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome (EARLY ACS) trial, routine preangiography eptifibatide use was not superior to delayed provisional use but led to more bleeding. This analysis examines efficacy and safety of early eptifibatide in the setting of concurrent upstream clopidogrel use. Methods and Results— In EARLY-ACS, clopidogrel use and timing were determined by treating physicians, but randomization to early eptifibatide versus placebo was stratified by the intent to use upstream clopidogrel. Among 9166 non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome patients who underwent coronary angiography, intent to use upstream clopidogrel was declared in 6895 (75%), and 7068 (77%) received upstream clopidogrel. After multivariable adjustment, intended upstream clopidogrel use did not differentially influence the effect of early eptifibatide on the primary end point of 96-hour death/myocardial infarction/recurrent ischemia requiring urgent revascularization/thrombotic bailout (interaction P=0.988). Early eptifibatide use reduced 30-day death/myocardial infarction among patients with intended upstream clopidogrel (adjusted odds ratio 0.85; 95% confidence interval 0.73 to 0.99) but not among those without intended upstream clopidogrel use (adjusted odds ratio 1.02; 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 1.30). However, the clopidogrel by randomized treatment interaction term was not significant (P=0.23). Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction major bleeding risk was increased with early eptifibatide in the setting of upstream clopidogrel use. Results were similar using actual clopidogrel treatment strata. Conclusions— Routine early eptifibatide use, compared with delayed provisional use, may be associated with lower 30-day ischemic risk in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome patients also treated with clopidogrel before angiography. The benefit–risk ratio of intensive platelet inhibition with combined early use of antiplatelet agents needs further evaluation in prospective randomized trials. Clinical Trial Registration— http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier NCT00089895.


Abstract Experimental simulations of ITER transient events with surface heat load parameters relevant to edge-localized-mode (ELM) impacts and disruptions have been performed with a quasi-stationary plasma accelerator Kh-50. In the ELM simulation experiments with heat loads exceeding the tungsten melting threshold, both droplet splashing and solid dust ejection are observed. The erosion products emitted from the exposed tungsten surfaces in the form of droplets and solid dust have been clearly distinguished by variation of impacting heat load with performed analysis of particle ejection start time, their velocities, and changes in the luminosity of the particle traces in front of the target surface recorded with a charge-coupled device. Droplets are emitted during plasma exposure, and dust generation dominates after the end of the plasma pulse, at the time of the following material cooling. The contributions of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities to droplet splashing from the melt layer are discussed. Decrease of droplet velocity with increasing surface heat load is observed. This decrease could be attributed to the growing size of the droplets for higher energy loads.


In order to investigate the climate variability in the northern Antarctic Peninsula region, this paper focuses on the relationship between stable isotope content of pre- cipitation and firn, and main meteorological variables (air temperature, relative humidity, sea surface temperature, and sea ice extent). Between 2008 and 2010, we collected pre- cipitation samples and retrieved firn cores from several key sites in this region. We conclude that the deuterium excess oscillation represents a robust indicator of the meteorologi- cal variability on a seasonal to sub-seasonal scale. Low ab- solute deuterium excess values and the synchronous varia- tion of both deuterium excess and air temperature imply that the evaporation of moisture occurs in the adjacent Southern Ocean. The 18 O-air temperature relationship is complicated and significant only at a (multi)seasonal scale. Backward trajectory calculations show that air-parcels arriving at the region during precipitation events predominantly originate at the South Pacific Ocean and Bellingshausen Sea. These investigations will be used as a calibration for ongoing and future research in the area, suggesting that appropriate lo- cations for future ice core research are located above 600 m a.s.l. We selected the Plateau Laclavere, Antarctic Peninsula as the most promising site for a deeper drilling campaign.


Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), the most common of the pulmonary granulomatous vasculitides, typically involves the upper respiratory tract, lower respiratory tract (bronchi and lung), and kidney, with varying degrees of disseminated vasculitis. Major histological features include a necrotizing vasculitis involving small vessels, extensive ''geographic'' necrosis, and granulomatous inflammation. Clinical manifestations of WG are protean; virtually any organ can be involved. Further, the spectrum and severity of the disease is heterogeneous, ranging from indolent disease involving only one site to fulminant, multiorgan vasculitis leading to death. The pathogenesis of WG has not been elucidated, but both cellular and humoral components are involved. Circulating antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (cANCA) likely play a role in the pathogenesis and often correlate with activity of the disease. Treatment strategies are evolving. Cyclophos-phamide (CYC) plus corticosteroids (CS) is the mainstay of therapy for generalized, multisystemic WG. Historically, the combination of CYC plus CS was used for a minimum of 12 months, but concern about late toxicities associated with CYC has led to novel treatment approaches. Currently, short-course (3–6 months) induction treatment with CYC plus CS, followed by maintenance therapy with less toxic agents (e.g., methotrexate, azathioprine) is recommended. Further, recent studies suggest that methotrexate combined with CS may be adequate for limited, non–life threatening WG. The role of other immunomodulatory agents (including trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) is also explored.


Background: Bacterial infection was described as one of the precipitating factor in cholesterol gallstone formation and many studies have confirmed the presence of Helicobacter species in the hepatobiliary system. The aim of our study was to detect the presence of Helicobacter species in bile juice by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in patients presented with calcular obstructive jaundice. Methods: Bile samples from 75 patients presented with calcular obstructive jaundice were obtained during Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancriatography (ERCP) and subjected to nested PCR for H. pylori DNA detection and bacterial culture. Gastric biopsies were also taken for H. pylori rapid urease and culture. Results: Helicobacter DNA was detected in 11 out of 75 bile sample by nested PCR, 0 were positive by bile culture, 30 were positive by rapid urease test from gastric biopsy and 5 were positive by gastric biopsy culture. Conclusion: H. pylori was found in the biliary system, in patients with calcular obstructive jaundice suggesting that these bacteria may be of etiological importance in gallstone formation.


Two of the most common temporal variables present in any eating behavior experiment are inter access-to-food interval and access-to-food duration. In this study, the effects of both variables on eating behavior were investigated. Three rats were exposed to different durations of inter access-to-food interval in an ascending order. Another three rats were exposed to the inter accessto- food interval in a descending order. For all the rats the access-to-food duration was the complement of the 24 hours period. The procedure of ascending order changed systematically the eating behavior. On the contrary, the eating behavior of the subjects exposed to the descending order was less sensible to the changes of the inter access-to-food interval. The findings of this study are comparable with previous data in which some of the experimental operations include the temporal variables conceptualized for the present study. Thus, it is necessary increase the evidence focus on the development of the generality of both temporal variables.


The processes governing the evolution of sexual dimorphism provided a foundation for sexual selection theory. Two alternative processes, originally proposed by Darwin and Wallace, differ primarily in the timing of events creating the dimorphism. In the process advocated by Darwin, a novel ornament arises in a single sex, with no temporal separation in the origin and sex-limitation of the novel trait. By contrast, Wallace proposed a process where novel ornaments appear simultaneously in both sexes, but are then converted into sex-limited expression by natural selection acting against showy coloration in one sex. Here, we investigate these alternative modes of sexual dimorphism evolution in a phylogenetic framework and demonstrate that both processes contribute to dimorphic wing patterns in the butterfly genera Bicyclus and Junonia. In some lineages, eyespots and bands arise in a single sex, whereas in other lineages they appear in both sexes but are then lost in one of the sexes. In addition, lineages displaying sexual dimorphism were more likely to become sexually monomorphic than they were to remain dimorphic. This derived monomorphism was either owing to a loss of the ornament ('drab monomorphism') or owing to a gain of the same ornament by the opposite sex ('mutual ornamentation'). Our results demonstrate the necessity of a plurality in theories explaining the evolution of sexual dimorphism within and across taxa. The origins and evolutionary fate of sexual dimorphism are probably influenced by underlying genetic architecture responsible for sex-limited expression and the degree of intralocus sexual conflict. Future comparative and developmental work on sexual dimorphism within and among taxa will provide a better understanding of the biases and constraints governing the evolution of animal sexual dimorphism.


While ethnic minorities may ultimately strive for creating their own state, or joining an ethnic kin state, these options are rarely realistically feasible. In such conditions, I argue, that dominant ethnic minority representatives strive to collaborate with the ethnic majority, and pursue liberal political goals, such as the protection of minority rights and civil liberties, that would ensure the survival and wellbeing of all ethnic groups. This contrasts with much of the literature which sees ethnicity as a source of particularistic, rather than liberal, politics. However, I suggest that when the plausibility of secession or irredentism increases, ethnic representatives abandon their liberal collaborative aims, and rather seek to end their minority status through exit. I study these mechanisms on the case of the German minority in in-terwar Czechoslovakia. Using historical analysis and quantitative content analysis of parliamentary speeches between 1920 and 1938, I demonstrate that the political actions of ethnic minority representatives are circumstantial.


Introduction: The need for large amounts of skin and subcutaneous tissue makes it complex to repair extensive defects of the middle third of the face. Aiming to reduce morbidity and attain good aesthetic-functional outcomes, Ariyan and McGrath and, subsequently, Behan et al. proposed reconstruction techniques that use transverse and submandibular cervical flap, respectively. Such flaps have fair amounts of tissue and are associated with low morbidity in the donor area. The present authors propose and describe a variant of the Behan flap for use in the reconstruction of large defects of the middle third of the face. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 8 cases of reconstruction with transverse submandibular cervical flaps for defects of the middle third of the face, conducted between June 2011 and December 2013. The following parameters were analyzed: possible results, and early and late complications. Results: Eight patients with a mean age of 73.5 years were included. All of the patients presented aesthetic-functional satisfactory results. Among the early complications, vascular congestion occurred in 3 patients in the first week with spontaneous resolution, and salivary fistula occurred after tumor resection in 1 patient. With regard to late complications, scar retraction was observed, manifested by either by ectropion (2 patients) or labial retraction (1 patient). Conclusion: Randomized transverse submandibular cervical flaps with axial pedicles may be considered as another option for reconstruction of defects of the middle third of the face.


A fundamental function of the visual system, and other sensory systems, due
to resource limitations, is to optimally select task-relevant information from the
barrage of information impinging the retina. In a series of experiments different
aspects of attention to visual information for perception and recognition are
addressed.
Firstly, what information is selected? In Chapter 2, I begin with addressing
the generic problem of knowing which information drives the perception of a
stimulus. As a case study example, a first experiment using Bubbles (Gosselin
and Schyns, 2001) determines the specific information underlying the perception
of the stable percepts of an ambiguous image and shows that this information is
grounded in different spatial filters processing each image interpretation. A
further experiment employs frequency-specific adaptation to induce a perception
of the image that is orthogonal to the adapting frequencies, validating this
information drives the selective perception of the ambiguous image.
Secondly, if we know the subset of information that is selected for the
perception of an input, can the processing of information underlying a percept be
selectively suppressed, thereby inducing an alternative percept? In the
experiments of Chapter 3, I further apply this spatial frequency adaptation
method to test the relevance of local image features for the perception of the
2
ambiguous image, and the recognition of gender in hybrid faces. While the
results of the experiment on the perception of the ambiguous image suggest an
effective method for testing the role of local stimulus information for perception,
the results of the experiment on the recognition of gender in faces showed no
effect of adaptation region on perception of gender.
Thirdly, how does selective information use evolve with learning? And what
are the mechanism(s) that enable this learning? In Chapter 4, I investigated the
evolution of information use in the discrimination of unfamiliar faces using a
perceptual learning paradigm. I used the method of noise masking to examine
the facial regions observers used, over time, for successful discrimination, and to
determine the mechanisms underlying performance improvements. The results
showed that the efficiency of observers to use the information available increased
with learning differentially across different regions of the face.
Supplementary to examining attention to information in terms of the
information content of the stimulus, another series of experiments investigated
the effect of attention on the temporal dynamics of processing visual information,
and the locus of this effect within the stream of information processing. Using
spatial pre-cueing to manipulate attention and a speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT)
method to examine the full time-course of visual processing, I analysed, in
addition to the behavioural response and the parameters of the SATfunction, the
lateralised readiness potential (LRP)and other components of the event-related
brain potentials (ERPs) to determine the locus of any attentional modulations on
the speed of processing. The results of three experiments showed that attention
can speed up visual information processing, and that the locus of this effect is at
later processing stages related to the categorisation of a stimulus.


The effect of adding oleochemical-based surfactants (Agrimul PG2069,
Agrimul PG2067, Sl and methyl oleate) in comparison with the organosilicone
surfactant (Silwet L-77) on properties of spray solution, efficacy and uptake of
glyphosate (Roundup®) for the control of P. conjugatum and D. ocimifolia was
evaluated in the greenhouse. The dose-response study of glyphosate on 4-5 week old
P. conjugatum and D. ocimifolia was first established. Glyphosate at 1.0 kg a.elha
and above gave >90% mortality of the plants at 10 and 14 days after treatment
(DAT) for P. conjugatum and D. ocimifolia, respectively. The spray deposition study
showed higher amount of fluorescein deposited at these concentrations. It was
estimated that glyphosate at 0.46 kg a.elha and 1.0 kg a.elha gave 50% mortality of
P. conjugatum and D. ocimifolia, respectively and these rates were used in
subsequent studies. Adding Agrimul PG2069 (0.025 ml/litre) and Agrimul PG2069 (0.05
ml/litre) to glyphosate spray solution gave significantly better control of P.
conjugatum compared with other treatments at 10 DAT. However, methyl oleate (0.1
ml/litre) and Silwet L-77 (0.5 ml/litre) showed the highest spray deposition. On D.
oCimifolia, methyl oleate at all 3 concentrations tested (0.025, 0.05 and 0.1 mll1itre)
together with Silwet L-77 (0.25 ml/litre) showed significantly better efficacy
compared to others at 14 DA T. The spray deposition of these surfactants was also
observed to be the highest.


OBJECTIVE
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is often needed to manage disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine lupus activity and pregnancy outcomes in women with SLE treated or not treated with HCQ during pregnancy.

METHODS
This was a prospective study of pregnancies in women with SLE who were evaluated between 1987 and 2002. The pregnancies were divided into 3 groups: no HCQ exposure during pregnancy (163 pregnancies), continuous use of HCQ during pregnancy (56 pregnancies), or cessation of HCQ treatment either in the 3 months prior to or during the first trimester of pregnancy (38 pregnancies). The pregnancy outcomes, fetal outcomes, and lupus activity during pregnancy were compared among these groups.

RESULTS
The rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, pregnancy loss, and congenital abnormality were not statistically different among the 3 groups. The degree of lupus activity during pregnancy, however, was significantly higher in women who stopped taking HCQ. These women had a higher degree of lupus activity, as measured by the physician's estimate of lupus activity and the SLE Disease Activity Index, as well as an increased rate of flare, during pregnancy. More serious lupus complications, such as proteinuria and thrombocytopenia, were not significantly higher in women who stopped taking HCQ. Women who continued taking HCQ were maintained on a lower average dose of prednisone during pregnancy.

CONCLUSION
We recommend the continuation of HCQ treatment during pregnancy. Our findings are consistent with prior reports of the absence of fetal toxicity. Similar to studies of nonpregnant women, the cessation of HCQ treatment during pregnancy increases the degree of lupus activity.


Over 100 recipes for implementing the most important functionalities of Alfresco Easy to follow cookbook allowing you to dive in wherever you want Convert ideas into action using practical based recipes A comprehensive collection of alfresco recipes covering the API, Freemarker templates, external integration, web client, and much more In Detail Alfresco is the renowned and multiple award winning open source Enterprise content management system which allows you to build, design, and implement your very own ECM solutions. You have read a number of tutorials, blogs, and books on Alfresco. Now you're in the real world, trying to use Alfresco, but you're running into problems with it. This is the book you want. Packed full of solutions that can be instantly applied, this cookbook with its practical based recipes and minimal explanation meets that demand. This Alfresco 3 cookbook boasts a comprehensive selection of recipes covering everything from the basics to the advanced. The book has recipes for quickly installing Alfresco in Windows and Linux and helping you use custom content model, rules, and search. There is also a collection of recipes focused on creating Scripts, Freemarker templates, Web Scripts, and new workflow definitions. Steps to integrate Alfresco with other systems like MS-Office are also included. You will be able to use Alfresco's File and Email servers. Finally, step-by-step recipes are presented to create an Alfresco build environment and compile the source code. This Alfresco 3 Cookbook is perfect for developers looking to start working on Alfresco quickly, gain complete understanding, write custom implementations, and achieve expertise very easily. What you will learn from this book Configure your Alfresco server all without direct installer Create, arrange, manage, secure, search, and expose content Make your content storage business rules aware Troubleshoot and integrate Alfresco with other enterprise systems and applications Write your own services and solutions using Alfresco APIs Integrate with your corporate systems and build an enterprise solution environment with Alfresco Approach Written in a cookbook style, this book offers solutions using a recipe based approach. Each recipe contains step-by-step instructions followed by an analysis of what was done in each task and other useful information. Who this book is written for If you are a software developer interested in content management systems, who wants to work with Alfresco or is already experienced in Alfresco, this cookbook will get you up and running quickly. If you want rapid implementation of Alfresco's most important and effective features then this is the cookbook for you.


At a node of a broadband network, such as an ATM network, the prediction of quality of service plays an important role in formulating traffic control functions. The historical data from 1995 to 2001 has shown that data traffic has doubled each year and this trend is likely to continue. Assuming that traffic is generated from a number of data sources, we propose a new approach in predicting packet (or cell) loss rate, which is considered to be the quality of service of interest. The proposed approach not only does not rely on an assumption of a statistical model for the traffic patterns, but also closely approximates the cell loss rate in an output queue of a node. To do this, first, we identify a set of traffic parameters, as traffic indicator , that can describe the behavior of short-term, long-term or self-similar traffic. Then, we approximate the cell loss rate in terms of the traffic indicator using function approximation capability of a neural network system consisting of a linear combination of a number of sigmoid functions. The proposed traffic indicator and cell loss approximator can be used for traffic engineering of broadband networks, e.g., ATM networks, to maximize the utilization of an output link. As an illustrative example, we propose a new connection admission control that predicts packet cell loss rate from the aggregate of two traffic indicators: one for the existing connections and the other for the new connection. If the predicted cell loss rate for the aggregate traffic indicator is less than a pre-set threshold the new connection is admitted. Under the assumption that the users do not tight bound on the cell loss rate, we showed that the proposed admission control is twice as efficient as the Equivalent Capacity


Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant organic raw material in the world. Cellulose and hemicellulose from plants and other biomass can be hydrolyzed to produce sugars. Native lignocellulosic biomass provides limited accessibility to cellulase enzymes due to structural features. The investigations were carried out with waste lignocellulosic raw material, consisting of maize stalks and cobs. Enzyme hydrolysis was performed after acid hydrolysis with a cellulasic product. It was established that the enzyme stage, as a first treatment phase, was inefficient. It was found that cellulase activity was considerably improved after acid hydrolysis of a crushed mass. A two-stage process with acidic and then enzyme hydrolysis method was most efficient and promising for obtaining sugars for ethanol production.


We compare two gesture sets for interactive surfaces---a set of gestures created by an end-user elicitation method and a set of gestures authored by three HCI researchers. Twenty-two participants who were blind to the gestures' authorship evaluated 81 gestures presented and performed on a Microsoft Surface. Our findings indicate that participants preferred gestures authored by larger groups of people, such as those created by end-user elicitation methodologies or those proposed by more than one researcher. This preference pattern seems to arise in part because the HCI researchers proposed more physically and conceptually complex gestures than end-users. We discuss our findings in detail, including the implications for surface gesture design.


Great Andamanese has a dual semantic system for body part categorization: one that is expressed in various terms for concrete body parts and another more abstract one that is expressed in grammaticalized morphemes represented in seven body division possessive classes that classify body part terms based on the area of the body they occupy. These classes also classify other inalienables, with some semantic connection to the body part system. Further, body part semantics pervade the lexical and grammatical system of the language as this dual system is extended to other form classes, viz. verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The body division class markers occur as proclitics attached to all content word classes. Thus, all content words in Great Andamanese can easily be divided into bound and free, the former necessarily imbued with the semantics of "inherency" and "dependency". I conclude by proposing that the Great Andamanese conceptualize their world through these interdependencies and hence the grammar of the language encodes this important phenomenon in every part of speech expressing referential, attributive and predicative meaning.


The Wnt target gene Lgr5 (leucine-rich-repeat-containing Gprotein-coupled receptor 5) marks actively dividing stem cells in Wnt-driven, self-renewing tissues such as small intestine and colon, stomach and hair follicles. A three-dimensional culture system allows long-term clonal expansion of single Lgr5 stem cells into transplantable organoids (budding cysts) that retain many characteristics of the original epithelial architecture. A crucial component of the culture medium is the Wnt agonist RSPO1, the recently discovered ligand of LGR5. Here we show that Lgr5-lacZ is not expressed in healthy adult liver, however, small Lgr5-LacZ cells appear near bile ducts upon damage, coinciding with robust activation of Wnt signalling. As shown by mouse lineage tracing using a new Lgr5-IRES-creERT2 knock-in allele, damage-induced Lgr5 cells generate hepatocytes and bile ducts in vivo. Single Lgr5 cells from damaged mouse liver can be clonally expanded as organoids in Rspo1based culture medium over several months. Such clonal organoids can be induced to differentiate in vitro and to generate functional hepatocytes upon transplantation into Fah mice. These findings indicate that previous observations concerning Lgr5 stem cells in actively self-renewing tissues can also be extended to damage-induced stem cells in a tissue with a low rate of spontaneous proliferation.


PURPOSE
To assess whether pamidronate can reduce the frequency of skeletal morbidity in women with lytic bone metastases from breast cancer treated with hormone therapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Three hundred seventy-two women with breast cancer who had at least one lytic bone lesion and who were receiving hormonal therapy were randomized to receive 90 mg of pamidronate or placebo as a 2-hour intravenous infusion given in double-blind fashion every 4 weeks for 24 cycles. Patients were evaluated for skeletal complications: pathologic fractures, spinal cord compression, irradiation of or surgery on bone, or hypercalcemia. The skeletal morbidity rate (the ratio of the number of skeletal complications to the time on trial) was the primary efficacy variable. Bone pain, use of analgesics, quality of life, performance status, bone tumor response, and biochemical parameters were also evaluated.

RESULTS
One hundred eighty-two patients who received pamidronate and 189 who received placebo were assessable. The skeletal morbidity rate was significantly reduced at 12, 18, and 24 cycles in patients treated with 90 mg of pamidronate (P = .028, .023, and .008, respectively). At 24 cycles, the proportion of patients having had any skeletal complication was 56% in the pamidronate group and 67% in the placebo group (P = .027). The time to the first skeletal complication was longer for patients receiving pamidronate than for those given placebo (P = .049). There was no statistical difference in survival or in objective bone response rate. Pamidronate was well tolerated.

CONCLUSION
Treatment with 90 mg of pamidronate as a 2-hour intravenous infusion every 4 weeks in addition to hormonal therapy significantly reduces skeletal morbidity from osteolytic metastases.


This paper presents the results of a laboratory testing program on the curing behavior of one impregnating epoxy (Tyfo S) and one thickened epoxy (Tyfo WS) that are most commonly used in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) repair of pipelines, including progression of cure at various temperatures; relative humidities and relationships between the degree of cure and properties such as hardness, glass transition temperature, and long-term water absorption of these epoxies; and tensile properties of the CFRP. Based on the tests performed, curing schedules can be established to achieve a minimum degree of cure of 85%, which is typically used in practice for newly installed CFRP liners prior to refilling of pipelines. Quality assurance procedures are proposed for verification of the degree of cure achieved in the field, including a project example where the proposed procedures have been used.


Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) algorithms and their variants can find high-quality collision-free plans for automated warehousing under simplified assumptions about the robot dynamics. However, these simplifying assumptions pose challenging implementational issues as the robots cannot follow the plans precisely. Various robust execution frameworks, such as the Action Dependency Graph (ADG) framework, have been proposed to enable the real-world execution of MAPF plans. Under such a framework, it is unclear how the simplifying assumptions affect the performance of the robots. In this work, we first argue that the ADG framework provides the same robustness guarantees as the single-agent framework (where plans are generated independently for each robot and collisions are avoided through a reservation table), which is widely used in industry. We then improve the efficiency of the ADG framework by integrating it with the Rolling-Horizon Collision-Resolution framework to solve MAPF problems with a persistent stream of online tasks. Using the integrated framework, we compare the standard MAPF model with many of its more complex variants, such as MAPF with rotation, k-robust MAPF, and continuous-time MAPF (taking robot dynamics into account). We examine their effectiveness in improving throughput through realistic simulations of warehouse settings with the Gazebo simulator.


The Deepwater Horizon blowout is the largest offshore oil spill in history. We present results from a subsurface hydrocarbon survey using an autonomous underwater vehicle and a ship-cabled sampler. Our findings indicate the presence of a continuous plume of oil, more than 35 kilometers in length, at approximately 1100 meters depth that persisted for months without substantial biodegradation. Samples collected from within the plume reveal monoaromatic petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in excess of 50 micrograms per liter. These data indicate that monoaromatic input to this plume was at least 5500 kilograms per day, which is more than double the total source rate of all natural seeps of the monoaromatic petroleum hydrocarbons in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Dissolved oxygen concentrations suggest that microbial respiration rates within the plume were not appreciably more than 1 micromolar oxygen per day.


It is desired to preprocess an input image so that, when it is distorted by an imaging system, a prescribed output image is produced. The system of interest is a linear, shift-invariant, band-limited system followed by a hard limiter. Such a system is found, for example, in microphotography, when a camera that is band limited by diffraction effects is used to print on very-high-contrast film. In this paper, an iterative solution that employs alternating projections is presented. Two valiations of the procedure, which is similar to the Gerchberg-Papoulis algorithm, are applied to several examples having different space-bandwidth products. Also, a method of overrelaxing the projections to improve convergence is studied.


The resonant excitation of neutron star (NS) modes by tides is investigated as a source of short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) precursors. We find that the driving of a crust-core interface mode can lead to shattering of the NS crust, liberating ∼10{46}-10{47}  erg of energy seconds before the merger of a NS-NS or NS-black-hole binary. Such properties are consistent with Swift/BAT detections of SGRB precursors, and we use the timing of the observed precursors to place weak constraints on the crust equation of state. We describe how a larger sample of precursor detections could be used alongside coincident gravitational wave detections of the inspiral by Advanced LIGO class detectors to probe the NS structure. These two types of observations nicely complement one another, since the former constrains the equation of state and structure near the crust-core boundary, while the latter is more sensitive to the core equation of state.


Voice over IP (VoIP) is a methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms commonly associated with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service. VoIP is the technology allowing voice traffic transmission as data packets over a private or a public IP network. VoIP allows significant benefits for customers and communication services providers. The Users can make the telephone calls over an IP network using this technology. Nevertheless, the deployment of the VoIP technology encounters many challenges such as architecture complexity, interoperability problems, QoS concerns, and security issues. Due to the inability of the IP networking technology to support the stringent QoS constraints of voice traffic, and the incapability of traditional security mechanisms to adequately protect VoIP systems from recent intelligent attacks, security issues are considered as the most serious challenges for successful deployment of the VoIP technology. The aim of this paper is to carry out a deep analysis of the security issues of the VoIP technology. Keywords-VoIP, Internet Protocol, Security Issues, Analysis0.


Naturalistic longitudinal recordings of child development promise to reveal fresh perspectives on fundamental questions of language acquisition. In a pilot effort, we have recorded 230,000 hours of audio-video recordings spanning the first three years of one child's life at home. To study a corpus of this scale and richness, current methods of developmental cognitive science are inadequate. We are developing new methods for data analysis and interpretation that combine pattern recognition algorithms with interactive user interfaces and data visualization. Preliminary speech analysis reveals surprising levels of linguistic fine-tuning by caregivers that may provide crucial support for word learning. Ongoing analyses of the corpus aim to model detailed aspects of the child's language development as a function of learning mechanisms combined with lifetime experience. Plans to collect similar corpora from more children based on a transportable recording system are underway.


Background: The increased availability of claims data allows one to build high dimensional datasets, rich in covariates, for accurately estimating treatment effects in medical and epidemiological cohort studies. This paper shows the full potential of machine learning for the estimation of average treatment effects with propensity score methods in a context rich and high dimensional datasets.
Methods: Four different methods are used to estimate average treatment effects in the context of time to event outcomes. The four methods explored in this study are LASSO, Random Forest, Gradient Descent Boosting and Artificial Neural networks. Simulations based on an actual medical claims data set are used to assess the efficiency of these methods. The simulations are performed with over 100, 000 observations and 1,100 explanatory variables. Each method is tested on 500 datasets that are created from the original dataset, allowing us to report the mean and standard deviation of estimated average treatment effects.
Results: The results are very promising for all four methods; however, LASSO, Random Forest and Gradient Boosting seem to be performing better than Random Forest.
Conclusion: Machine Learning methods can be helpful for observational studies that use the propensity score when a very large number of covariates are available, the total number of observations is large, and the dependent event rare. This is an important result given the availability of big data related to Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) around the world.


Mediterranean areas with intensive agriculture are characterized by high salinity of groundwater. The use of this water in hydroponic cultivations can lead to nutrient solutions with an electrical conductivity that overcomes the tolerance threshold of many vegetable species. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were shown to minimize salt stress on several vegetable crops but the studies on the application of PGPR on leafy vegetables grown in hydroponics are rather limited and have not been used under salt stress conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the use of plant growth-promoting bacteria to increase the salt tolerance of leaf lettuce grown in autumn and spring in a floating system, by adding a bacterial biostimulant (1.5 g L−1 of TNC BactorrS13 a commercial biostimulant containing 1.3 × 108 CFU g−1 of Bacillus spp.) to mineral nutrient solutions (MNS) with two salinity levels (0 and 20 mM NaCl). Leaf lettuce plants showed a significant reduction of growth and yield under salt stress, determined by the reduction of biomass, leaf number, and leaf area. Plants showed to be more tolerant to salinity in autumn than in spring. The inhibition of lettuce plant growth due to salt stress was significantly alleviated by the addition of the bacterial biostimulant to the MNS, which had a positive effect on plant growth and fresh and dry biomass accumulation of the unstressed lettuce in both cultivation seasons, and maintained this positive effect in brackish MNS, with similar or even significantly higher values of morphologic, physiologic, and yield parameters than those recorded in control unstressed plants.


One of the earlier works on eigen-based techniques for the hyper-complex domain of quaternions was on "quaternion principal component analysis of colour images". The results of this work are still instructive in many aspects. First, it showed how naturally the quaternion domain accounts for the coupling between the dimensions of red, blue and green of an image, hence its suitability for multichannel processing. Second, it was clear that there was a lack of eigen-based techniques for such a domain, which explains the non-trivial gap in the literature. Third, the lack of such eigen-based quaternion tools meant that the scope and
the applications of quaternion signal processing were quite limited, especially in the field of biomedicine. And fourth, quaternion principal component analysis made use of complex matrix algebra, which reminds us that the complex domain lays the building blocks of the quaternion domain, and therefore any research endeavour in quaternion signal processing should start with the complex domain.
As such, the first contribution of this thesis lies in the proposition of complex singular spectrum analysis. That research provided a deep understanding and an appreciation of the intricacies of the complex domain and its impact on the quaternion domain. As the complex domain offers one degree of freedom over the real domain, the statistics of a complex variable x has to be augmented with its complex conjugate x*, which led to the term augmented statistics. This recent advancement in complex statistics was exploited in the proposed complex singular spectrum analysis. The same statistical notion was used in proposing novel quaternion eigen-based techniques such as the quaternion singular spectrum analysis, the quaternion uncorrelating transform, and the quaternion common spatial patterns. The latter two methods highlighted an important gap in the literature – there were no algebraic methods that solved the simultaneous diagonalisation of quaternion matrices. To address this issue, this thesis also presents new fundamental results on quaternion matrix factorisations and explores the depth of quaternion algebra.
To demonstrate the efficacy of these methods, real-world problems mainly in biomedical engineering were considered. First, the proposed complex singular spectrum analysis successfully addressed an examination of schizophrenic data
through the estimation of the event-related potential of P300. Second, the automated detection of the different stages of sleep was made possible using the proposed quaternion singular spectrum analysis. Third, the proposed quaternion common spatial patterns facilitated the discrimination of Parkinsonian patients from healthy subjects. To illustrate the breadth of the proposed eigen-based techniques, other areas of applications were also presented, such as in wind and financial forecasting, and Alamouti-based communication problems. Finally, a
preliminary work is made available to suggest that the next step from this thesis is to move from static models (eigen-based models) to dynamic models (such as tracking models).


Parties to legal disputes, now more than ever before, are able to access information about the law. This article reports on an empirical study of experiences in relation to accessing legal information in a family law context. A thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with people who rang the Australian Federal Government's Family Relationships Advice Line indicated five key issues: first, parties struggle with the complexity of the information experience; secondly, parties have difficulty in assessing the credibility and reliability of sources of information and the information provided; thirdly, parties indicate clear source preferences; fourthly, parties have difficulty applying the information retrieved from various sources to their individual situation; and, finally, parties tend to use language that is no longer reflected in family law legislation or practice. These findings are discussed and analysed with reference to the specific voice of the study participants. The findings should assist government agencies, family dispute resolution providers and others to improve the ways legal information and advice on post-separation issues is provided. The findings are also applicable to other contexts of legal
information provision.


According to cultivation theory, people learn information about the world from exposure to media and according to social cognitive theory, we learn how to interact with our social environment through observation of others. Together, these provide an explanation for why stereotypical media portrayals might increase biased attitudes. However, no research has examined the connection between media portrayals and biased attitudes for American Inidans, a group who are only represented in .2-.4% of American media (Fryberg, Markus, Oyserman, & Stone, 2008). The purpose of this study is to assess the role of stereotypical media portrayals of American Indians on both explicit and implicit attitudes and examine the potential mediating impact of both motivation to respond without prejudice and awareness of White privilege on these relationships. In this study participants were randomly assigned to watch either a series of videos with stereotypical representations of American Indians or a series of control videos. Measures of explicitly biased attitudes (modern racism and colorblind racial attitudes), implicitly biased attitudes, awareness of White privilege, and motivations to respond without prejudice (both internal and external) were assessed pre and post-test. Results from three separate hierarchical regression analyses suggest that media does impact modern racist attitudes towards American Indians, but not general colorblind racial attitudes nor implicit attitudes towards American Indians. Importantly, this relationship between media portrayals and modern racist attitudes is moderated by one's awareness of White privilege such that higher awareness of White privilege only led to less endorsement of modern racist attitudes towards American Indians when not presented with stereotypical portrayals of American Indians. There were no differences between those low and high on awareness when stereotypical media portrayals were present. Implications and limitations are discussed.


OBJECTIVES
To compare the cognitive function performance in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) with respect healthy controls and to evaluate the short-term efficacy of exercise therapy in a warm, chest-high pool on pain and cognitive function in women with FM.

METHODS
Sixty middle-aged women with FM were randomly assigned to either an exercise training group (n = 35) to perform 3 sessions per week of aquatic training (32 degrees C) including mobility, aerobic, strengthening, and relaxation exercises for 16 weeks, or a control group (n = 25). Twenty-five healthy women matched for age, weight, body mass index, and educational and physical activity levels were recruited. Pain was assessed in patients using a syringe calibrated like a pressure dolorimeter, and a visual analog scale. The severity of FM was evaluated using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. Cognitive function was measured in healthy individuals and patients using several standardized neuropsychological tests. All patients were measured at baseline and post-treatment.

RESULTS
At baseline, the healthy group evidenced cognitive performance that was significantly superior to the group of patients with FM in all of the neuropsychological tests. The exercise group significantly improved their pain threshold, tender point count, self-reported pain, severity of FM, and cognitive function, while in the control group the differences were not significant.

CONCLUSION
An exercise therapy three times per week for 16 weeks in a warm-water pool is an adequate treatment to decrease the pain and severity of FM well as to improve cognitive function in previously unfit women with FM and heightened painful symptomatology.


Caracal (Caracal caracal) and leopard (Panthera pardus) are perennial problems for sheep farmers on the southern fringe of South Africa's arid Karoo. In the past, farmers responded to the conflict with blanket culling of predators, a strategy that ecologists understand to be harmful. This paper investigates the ability of blanket predator culling to reduce livestock losses. It found the probability of livestock losses to be a function of the number of caracal, leopards, vagrant dogs (Canis familiaris) and other wildlife culled during the previous year, as well as the previous year's trapper effort, the farm's remoteness and three years' worth of rainfall. Other unobserved farm characteristics did not systematically affect losses. Culling an additional caracal or leopard was estimated to increase future livestock losses by 5.7% and 27.2% respectively, while culling a vagrant dog was estimated to reduce the likelihood of future losses by 9.5%. Both trapper effort and remoteness increased the probability of livestock losses. The current and previous years' rainfall decreased the likelihood of future losses, while rainfall from two years prior was positively correlated with future losses. These results are important because they describe general culling effectiveness under a variety of management conditions over a period long enough to allow for adjustment to culling.


El contestador australiano y otros cuentos [The Australian answering machine and other stories] is the title of a collection of short stories written in Spanish by Uruguayan-born Ruben Fernandez. It was published in 2008 in Montevideo by the well-regarded publishing house Del Sur Ediciones. In 2009 Fernandez was interviewed by the Uruguayan newspaper El Pais and spoke about how his stories relate to his experience of thirty years as a migrant living in Australia. Many of the stories in this collection first appeared in Australia in the 1980s and early 1990s, a number of them as prize-winning entries in literary competitions, with several subsequently published in Spanish-language newspapers and magazines in Sydney. The Uruguayan publication is, in fact, a revised version of the 1993 book Querido Juan dos puntos, published in Sydney, with assistance from the Australia Council, by Cervantes Publications. This earlier collection was well received with reviews, interviews and front cover photographs appearing in the Spanish-language press in Australia at the time. Fernandez is only one of a number of Spanish-speaking authors whose work flows between Australia, Latin America and Spain. In this article I discuss aspects of the literary infrastructure in Spanish in Australia that have supported the publication of fiction within this migrant community and analyse stories from El contestador australiano to demonstrate the transnational dimensions of Australian Spanish-language writing.


In Australia, the so-called Group of Eight (Go8) universities have lower student-to-staff ratios, better qualified staff, superior research outcomes, and generally better placement in university rankings compared to non-Go8 universities. They are also typically the most competitive universities for prospective undergraduates to enter. Prior published research, mainly focusing on the United States, has found that graduates of prestigious and selective colleges enjoy a wage premium over graduates of other institutions when they enter the labour market. In this paper, we use data from the Graduate Destination Survey and data on Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) to investigate the existence of a Go8 premium in the Australian labour market and to determine the extent to which it is due merely to the recruitment of better students. We find statistically significant evidence of unconditional Go8 premia ranging from 4.3% to 5.5% and find that between 13% and 46% of these premia are due to student selection. We also find evidence of considerable heterogeneity within the Go8 and other university groupings, and that field of study and geographical region have relatively large impacts on graduate starting salaries. We conclude that, while Go8 premia exist, a graduate's alma mater is a relatively minor consideration in the determination of graduate salaries in Australia.


The flow caused by a dam breaking across its entire length can be approximated by a one-dimensional, unsteady flow model in form of the St. Venant equations. In this model, the flow is governed by the river geometry and the river roughness, which is quantified by Manning's coefficient. The roughness characteristics are generally difficult to estimate under natural conditions. Thus, the estimates of the Manning's coefficient will in general be subject to uncertainty. In this paper, the uncertainty in the discharge and depth hydrographs due to the uncertainty in estimating the roughness characteristics of a river, is investigated. A specific case of the Noppikoski dam in Sweden that failed in 1985 is used to illustrate the sensitivity of the flow simulation on the roughness coefficient. The analysis shows that the uncertainty in the dam break flow simulation due to the uncertainty in estimating Manning's coefficient, is significant. The uncertainty is larger at greater distances from the dam, and is greater for the discharge hydrograph than for the depth hydrograph.


Objective  In MSSE, we have divided male 2.5-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats into the following 4 groups: control (C), habitual swimming (SW), Alzheimer's disease (AD) induction without swimming (AD), and habitual swimming and then AD induction (SA), and found the perfect resistance of habitual swimming to AD induction by using the P value statistics of the 5 behavior parameters of rats and the 23 physiological and biochemical parameters of their hippocampus. The topological difference  of four groups were further calculated in this paper by using quantitative difference (QD) and self-similar approach.
Methods 1. The logarithm to base golden section τ (lt) is called golden logarithm. It was found that σ=ltσ ≈ 0.710439287156503. 2. For a process from x1 to x2, lx(1,2)=lt(x2/x1) and its absolute vale are called the process logarithm and its QD, QDx(1,2). There are QD threshold values (αx,βx,γx) of function x which can be calculated in terms of σ. The function x is kept to be constant if QDx(1,2) < αx. A function in/far from its function-specific homeostasis is called a normal/dysfunctional function. A normal function can resist a disturbance under its threshold so that QDx(1,2) < βx. A dysfunctional function is defined as the QD is significant if βx ≦QDx(1,2) < γx and extraordinarily significant if QDx(1,2) ≧ γx. 3. Self-similarity was studied in the fractal literature: a pattern is self-similar if it does not vary with spatial or temporal scale. First-order self-similarity condition leads to the power law between two data sets A = {xi} and B = {yi}; yi = ai xi if the QDi of ai and the average of {ai} is smaller than βmin=min{βi} and the average QD of {QDi} is smaller than αmin=min{αi}. 4. The σ algorithm for integrative biology was established based on high-order self-similarity. Those parameters that contribute to the topological difference were the biomarkers.
Results The 28 dimension data set consisted of all the 28 parameters. The first-order self-similarity held true for the 28 dimension data sets between groups C and SW. The topological algorithm of other groups suggested three AD biomarkers, protein carbonyl, granules density of presynaptic synaptophysin in the hippocampal CA1 and malondialdehyde intensity. The first two biomarkers were completely reversed by exercise pretreatment, but the third biomarker was partially reversed.
Conclusions  Exercise pretraining exerts partial benefits on AD that support its use as a promising new therapeutic option for prevention of neurodegeneration in the elderly and/or AD population.


His life was like his recurring nightmare: a train to nowhere. But an ordinary life has a way of taking an extraordinary turn. Add a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit, implicate them in a hunt for a sheep, that may or may not be running the world, and the upshot is another singular masterpiece from Japan's finest novelist.


Preeclampsia is a common pregnancy complication that leaves the affected individual to choose between preterm delivery or risking death. These outcomes are far from ideal and the search for a better treatment is underway. Previous studies have implicated whole flower commercial cannabis use as a risk factor for the development of preeclampsia as well as other partum complications. However, commercial cannabis is high in Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol and other psychoactive cannabinoids and low in cannabidiol. Therefore, it is imperative that the use of isolated CBD as a potential therapy is investigated. In this study novel mouse models of preeclampsia will be utilized to demonstrate the effect of cannabidiol on expecting mothers who are predisposed to preeclampsia. This will be demonstrated using B6D2F1 mice with placenta specific human transgene hsFLT1 to simulate preeclampsia. Cannabidiol will be introduced at different stages of gestation and symptoms of preeclampsia will be measured through blood pressure, protein urine content, and fetal mortality rate. The group with mice receiving cannabidiol prior to implantation are anticipated to show the lowest incidences of preeclampsia symptoms. With so many studies suggesting cannabidiol as a treatment method for a variety of the most dangerous symptoms of preeclampsia, it may be possible that cannabis will allow future mothers afflicted with Preeclampsia to bring their child to full-term.


A host of catastrophes, natural and otherwise, as well as some pleasant surprises --like the sudden end of the cold war without a shot being fired --have caught governments and societies unprepared many times in recent decades. September 11 is only the most obvious recent example among many unforeseen events that have changed, even redefined our lives. We have every reason to expect more such events in future. Several kinds of unanticipated scenarios --particularly those of low probability and high impact --have the potential to escalate into systemic crises. Even positive surprises can be major policy challenges. Anticipating and managing low-probability events is a critically important challenge to contemporary policymakers, who increasingly recognize that they lack the analytical tools to do so. Developing such tools is the focus of this insightful and perceptive volume, edited by renowned author Francis Fukuyama and sponsored by The American Interest magazine. Blindside is organized into four main sections. "Thinking about Strategic Surprise" addresses the psychological and institutional obstacles that prevent leaders from planning for low-probability tragedies and allocating the necessary resources to deal with them. The following two sections pinpoint the failures --institutional as well as personal --that allowed key historical events to take leaders by surprise, and examine the philosophies and methodologies of forecasting. In "Pollyana vs. Cassandra," for example, James Kurth and Gregg Easterbrook debate the future state of the world going forward. Mitchell Waldrop explores why technology forecasting is so poor and why that is likely to remain the case. In the book's final section, "What Could Be," internationally renowned authorities discuss low probability, high-impact contingencies in their area of expertise. For example, Scott Barrett looks at emerging infectious diseases, while Gal Luft and Anne Korin discuss energy security. How can we avoid being blindsided by unforeseen events? There is no easy or obvious answer. But it is essential that we understand the obstacles that prevent us first from seeing the future clearly and then from acting appropriately on our insights. This readable and fascinating book is an important step in that direction.


Abstract Studies were conducted to identify host location cues used by Roptrocerus xylophagorum (Ratzeburg), a larval/pupal parasitoid of bark beetles. In Y-tube olfactometer bioassays, female R. xylophagorum were attracted to infested bark (i.e., phloem, cambium, and outer corky bark tissues) removed from bolts of loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L., colonized by the late instar larvae and pupae of the bark beetle Ips grandicollis Eichhoff (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). In contrast, bark taken from recently cut, uninfested bolts interrupted attraction to infested bark when these were presented together. Larval and pupal hosts isolated from infested bark were not attractive to parasitoids, whereas frass removed from the larval mines in infested bark was highly attractive. Bark from which hosts or both hosts and host frass were removed remained highly attractive. Bark sandwiches (fresh bark with the exposed surface pressed to glass microscope slides) infested with either third-instar or adult female I. grandicollis were attractive to female parasitoids, whereas bark sandwiches with only mechanical damage to the phloem tissue were unattractive. A steam distillate of bark infested with host larvae was attractive to female R. xylophagorum, whereas a distillate of fresh pine resin was not attractive. Volatiles from the experimental baits were collected on Porapak Q and analyzed by coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Several compounds were identified that distinguished baits with biological activity. These data show the importance of the complete host/plant complex for attraction of R. xylophagorum to its host's habitat and suggest a possible role for particular odors from uninfested host plant tissue in directing foraging parasitoids away from locations with few or no hosts.


Abstract. Significant changes in the overturning circulation of the Mediterranean Sea has been observed during the last few decades, the most prominent phenomena being the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s and the Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT) during the mid-2000s. During both of these events unusually large amounts of deep water were formed, and in the case of the EMT, the deep water formation area shifted from the Adriatic to the Aegean Sea. Here we synthesize a unique collection of transient tracer (CFC-12, SF6 and tritium) data from nine cruises conducted between 1987 and 2011 and use these data to determine temporal variability of Mediterranean ventilation. We also discuss biases and technical problems with transient tracer-based ages arising from their different input histories over time; particularly in the case of time-dependent ventilation. We observe a period of low ventilation in the deep eastern (Levantine) basin after it was ventilated by the EMT so that the age of the deep water is increasing with time. In the Ionian Sea, on the other hand, we see evidence of increased ventilation after year 2001, indicating the restarted deep water formation in the Adriatic Sea. This is also reflected in the increasing age of the Cretan Sea deep water and decreasing age of Adriatic Sea deep water since the end of the 1980s. In the western Mediterranean deep basin we see the massive input of recently ventilated waters during the WMT. This signal is not yet apparent in the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the ventilation seems to be fairly constant since the EMT. Also the western Alboran Sea does not show any temporal trends in ventilation.


this paper deals with the simulation of vertical displacement vehicle car body with one and two DOFs by using and comparing results of two softwares Working Model and MatLab. The aim of this paper was to show that is very easy is to solve the differential equations that describe both models of vehicle system with one and two DOFs. The results simulations performed with both software's are almost the same for calculating displacement and velocity of sprung and unsprung mass and for different road excitations. The results of simulations have been analysed in terms of stability and road holding since sprung mass or vehicle body oscillations have direct impact on the passenger comfort.


Abstract We consider axially uniform, two-phase flow through a rigid curved tube in which a fluid (air) core is surrounded by a film of a second, immiscible fluid (water): a simplified model for flow in a conducting airway of the lung. Jensen (1997) showed that, in the absence of a core flow, surface tension drives the system towards a configuration in which the film thickness tends to zero on the inner wall of the bend. In the present work, we demonstrate that the presence of a core flow, driven by a steady axial pressure gradient, allows the existence of steady states in which the film thickness remains finite, a consequence of the fact that the tangential stresses at the interface, imposed by secondary flows in the core, can oppose the surface-tension-driven flow. For sufficiently strong surface tension, the steady configurations are symmetric about the plane containing the tube's centreline, but as the surface tension decreases the symmetry is lost through a pitchfork bifurcation, which is closely followed by a limit point on the symmetric solution branch. This solution structure is found both in simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations and a thin-film model appropriate for weakly curved tubes. Analysis of the thin-film model reveals that the bifurcation structure arises from a perturbation of the translational degeneracy of the interface location in a straight tube.


Registration/licensure is particularly important in regulation of health system, because public protection, safe and dignity care are the most important goal in health regulation. Registration/licensure of care providers is a solution to for achievement of this goal. Registration/licensure is not a new subject in nursing. Most of the countries, including Iran are focused on nursing Registration/licensure and its planning has been on the agenda of policy makers. This study comparatively describes nursing registration/licensure process in different countries including Iran. this was a descriptive comparative study. The relevant articles and texts were extracted from the websites Ovid PUBMED, Science Direct, CINHAL and ProQuest by using the keywords such as registration/licensure assessment, registration/licensure examination, regulation and nursing. A total of 22 articles, one WHO declaration and report of International Council of Nurses and regulation of Iranian nursing registration/licensure assessment were selected based on inclusion criteria by qualitative evaluation. Inclusion criteria included articles related to nursing registration/licensure in English and Farsi (Persian). Validity and qualitative evaluation of articles were measured by using qualitative article evaluation form developed by Ryan et al in 2007. Registration/licensure process is different in different countries. A national or state-supervised nursing council, association or board is responsible for registration/licensure. In different countries, registration/licensure requires a nursing certification (Diploma, Associate, Bachelor and Master of Nursing) in accordance with education system of that country, physical and mental health, criminal clearances and clinical experience. In some countries, registration/licensure requires a certification of skilled nursing exam. Comparison of regulations of different countries in terms of nursing registration/licensure is influenced by type of legislation, government regulations and socio-economic, political and cultural background of those countries. Assessment of regulation/licensure has positive outcomes for professional staff and care recipients. In Iran, assessment of regulation/licensure will have very positive outcomes in nursing profession and health system. The most important outcomes include ensured regulation/licensure, ethical and psychological competence of care providers in providing the best care with the highest quality.


Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a leading cause of acute liver failure and transplantation. DILI can be the result of impaired hepatobiliary transporters, with altered bile formation, flow, and subsequent cholestasis. We used gadoxetate dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), combined with pharmacokinetic modelling, to measure hepatobiliary transporter function in vivo in rats. The sensitivity and robustness of the method was tested by evaluating the effect of a clinical dose of the antibiotic rifampicin in four different preclinical imaging centers. The mean gadoxetate uptake rate constant for the vehicle groups at all centers was 39.3 +/- 3.4 s-1 (n = 23) and 11.7 +/- 1.3 s-1 (n = 20) for the rifampicin groups. The mean gadoxetate efflux rate constant for the vehicle groups was 1.53 +/- 0.08 s-1 (n = 23) and for the rifampicin treated groups was 0.94 +/- 0.08 s-1 (n = 20). Both the uptake and excretion transporters of gadoxetate were statistically significantly inhibited by the clinical dose of rifampicin at all centers and the size of this treatment group effect was consistent across the centers. Gadoxetate is a clinically approved MRI contrast agent, so this method is readily transferable to the clinic. Conclusion: Rate constants of gadoxetate uptake and excretion are sensitive and robust biomarkers to detect early changes in hepatobiliary transporter function in vivo in rats prior to established biomarkers of liver toxicity.


Coronary arterial complications associated with Kawasaki disease (KD), such as a giant coronary aneurysm, determine the relative risk of future cardiac events and require lifelong medical treatment. Here, we describe a 24-year-old man who developed myocardial infarction due to poor adherence to medical treatment for a giant coronary aneurysm in the chronic phase of KD. He was hospitalized two hours after the onset of chest pain. The presence of the giant coronary aneurysm made primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) difficult. However, we were able to perform primary PCI successfully utilizing previous coronary computed tomography (CT) angiographic pictures as a reference. This case provides valuable insight for the management of coronary arterial complications associated with KD. Patients in the chronic phase of KD are usually asymptomatic, even in the presence of giant coronary aneurysms which have been reported to have a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, patient education is critical for preventing poor adherence to medical treatment for coronary arterial complications. In preparation for potential coronary intervention in the future, it is also useful to perform coronary CT angiography, coronary magnetic resonance (MR) angiography, and/or coronary angiography on a regular basis while patients remain free from serious cardiac events. (Int Heart J 2015; 56: 551-554)


The lipocalin 24p3 binds to siderophores (microbial iron chelators) that bind iron and through this interaction can deliver iron to cells. Devireddy et al. identified the 24p3 receptor (24p3R), which resembles a 12-transmembrane cation transporter. Hela cells engineered to express 24p3R bound 24p3 and internalized it. When the cells were exposed to holo24p3 (complexed with iron-bound siderophore), intracellular iron concentrations were increased. When cells were exposed to apo24p3, which lacked iron, the intracellular concentration of iron decreased. When cells expressing 24p3R were labeled with radioactive iron, addition of apo24p3 resulted in the accumulation of iron in the culture medium that was coprecipitated with antibodies against 24p3. Thus, apo24p3 bound iron (presumably bound to an endogenous siderophore) and transported the iron out of the cell upon recycling of the receptor-holo24p3 complex. Consistent with transit through the recycling endosome, accumulation of labeled iron in the medium was blocked in cells expressing mutant versions of endosomal proteins (Rab11 and Rififylin) that inhibit recycling. 24p3 was released from cells regardless of whether the cells expressed the receptor. However, only 24p3 from the conditioned medium of cells expressing 24p3R was competent to bind radiolabeled iron, suggesting that newly synthesized 24p3 is not bound to an iron-binding protein but acquires this iron-binding protein after being internalized. Addition of apo24p3 to cells expressing the receptor resulted in increased abundance of the proapoptotic protein Bim and apoptosis, whereas holo24p3 did not induce apoptosis. Concomitant addition of transferrin to replenish the diminished cellular iron blocked apo24p3-induced apoptosis, indicating that apoptosis was the result of the decreased iron concentration. Finally, the authors show a connection between 24p3 and cancer caused by the BCR-ABL oncoprotein. In BCR-ABL cells, expression of 24p3R is repressed and the cells are refractory to the apoptotic effects of 24p3, despite showing an increase in 24p3 production. The chemotherapeutic agent imatinib, which inhibits BCR-ABL, inhibited the expression of the gene encoding 23p4 and increased the expression of the gene encoding 24p3R, thus resensitizing the cells to 23p4. The importance of iron in the apoptotic response of BCR-ABL to imatinib was confirmed by rescue of cells from imatinib-induced apoptosis by addition of holotransferrin. Thus, the 24p3 pathway appears to play a key role in iron homeostasis, and conditions that stimulate the production of apo24p3 result in loss of cellular iron and stimulation of apoptosis through increased production of proapoptotic Bim (see Richardson for commentary). L. R. Devireddy, C. Gazin, X. Zhu, M. R. Green, A cell-surface receptor for lipocalin 24p3 selectively mediates apoptosis and iron uptake. Cell 123, 1293-1305 (2005). [PubMed] D. R. Richardson, 24p3 and its receptor: Dawn of a new iron age? Cell 123, 1175-1177 (2005). [PubMed]


In this paper we present the AlvisP2P IR engine, which enables efficient retrieval with multi-keyword queries from a global document collection available in a P2P network. In such a network, each peer publishes its local index and invests a part of its local computing resources (storage, CPU, bandwidth) to maintain a fraction of a global P2P index. This investment is rewarded by the network-wide accessibility of the local documents via the global search facility.

The AlvisP2P engine uses an optimized overlay network and relies on novel indexing/retrieval mechanisms that ensure low bandwidth consumption, thus enabling unlimited network growth.

Our demonstration shows how an easy-to-install AlvisP2P client can be used to join an existing P2P network, index local (text or even multimedia) documents with collection-specific indexing mechanisms, and control access rights to them.


Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is characterized by degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indexes obtained along the corticospinal tracts distinguish ALS patients and control subjects. Diffusion tensor imaging can be estimated from at least 6 diffusion-weighted images; however an acquisition scheme with a higher number of diffusion directions allows a more robust estimation of DTI indexes. The aim of the study was to establish if a higher number of diffusion encoding gradients increases the diagnostic accuracy of DTI in ALS. We studied 18 patients and 16 control subjects acquiring 2 DTI data sets with 6 and 31 gradient orientations. The mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy values were measured along the corticospinal tract. Mean diffusivity in ALS was significantly increased (P = 0.026) with respect to control subjects in acquisition scheme with 31 but not (P = 0.214) with 6 diffusion-weighting directions. Fractional anisotropy was significantly lower in patients both with 6 (P = 0.0036) and with 31 (P = 0.0004) diffusion-weighting directions (0.538 vs 0.588 and 0.530 vs 0.594). Fractional anisotropy receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed a higher diagnostic accuracy by using 31 diffusion-weighting direction (85.76%) with respect to 6 directions (79.86%). Diffusion tensor imaging confirms its potentials in diagnosing ALS with a good accuracy; the acquisition scheme with a higher diffusion-weighting directions seems to better discriminate between ALS patients and control subjects.


N Engl J Med 2006;355:1253-61. Copyright © 2006 Massachusetts Medical Society. The deepening of our understanding of normal biology has made it clear that stem cells have a critical role not only in the generation of complex multicellular organisms, but also in the development of tumors. Recent findings support the concept that cells with the properties of stem cells are integral to the development and perpetuation of several forms of human cancer.1-3 Eradication of the stem-cell compartment of a tumor also may be essential to achieve stable, long-lasting remission, and even a cure, of cancer.4,5 Advances in our knowledge of the properties of stem cells have made specific targeting and eradication of cancer stem cells a topic of considerable interest. In this article, we discuss the properties of cancer stem cells, outline initial therapeutic strategies against them, and present challenges for the future.