In mammals, phosphocalcic and bone metabolisms are mainly regulated by parathyroid hormone, parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) and 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D or calcitriol. In camels, circulating levels of calcitriol are 10 times higher than those determined in other ruminants and further increase during early lactation. Calcitriol and parathyroid-related peptide stimulate intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphorus, and phosphocalcic excretion by the mammary glands to maintain breast milk production in the same species. These endocrinian features allow, on one hand to improve the uptake of calcium and phosphorus in the adult, and on the other, to meet the phosphocalcic needs during growth and development of the young calf, in a precarious medium. In camels, the status of vitamin D varies with the season and the postpartum stage. Hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia due to a deficiency of vitamin D are responsible for many bone disorders which could be corrected by a diet rich in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D.


In spraying insecticides, it used to be the practice to apply very large volumes of material at low concentrations. In orchards for example, the liquid would be applied until it ran off all affected surfaces, so that only the concentration of the insecticide had to be specified. The time taken and the expense involved in carting and dispersing hundreds of gallons of liquid per acre is resulting in attempts at control of insects with low-volume instead of this high-volume spraying.


This pilot study investigated the relationship between personal and wheelchair factors on skin pressures at the ischial tuberosity in wheelchair basketball players. Seventeen wheelchair basketball players (7 male and 10 female) were evaluated during static and dynamic propulsive conditions while peak pressure index and peak pressure gradient were recorded with an interface pressure mat. The results showed that greater seat dump angles and backrest heights were negatively associated with the peak pressure index. Therapeutic cushion use was moderately associated with a reduced peak pressure gradient. Higher-class players used chair configurations associated with augmented pressure; however, classification status alone was not associated with pressure magnitude. Body mass index was negatively correlated with the static peak pressure gradient at levels approaching significance (p < .10). In conclusion, greater seat dump angles and backrest heights may provide pressure relief, whereas greater body mass index and therapeutic cushion use may reduce pressure gradients.


Appropriate development of stratified, squamous, keratinizing epithelia, such as the epidermis and oral epithelia, generates an outer protective permeability barrier that prevents water loss, entry of toxins, and microbial invasion. During embryogenesis, the immature ectoderm initially consists of a single layer of undifferentiated, cuboidal epithelial cells that stratifies to produce an outer layer of flattened periderm cells of unknown function. Here, we determined that periderm cells form in a distinct pattern early in embryogenesis, exhibit highly polarized expression of adhesion complexes, and are shed from the outer surface of the embryo late in development. Mice carrying loss-of-function mutations in the genes encoding IFN regulatory factor 6 (IRF6), IκB kinase-α (IKKα), and stratifin (SFN) exhibit abnormal epidermal development, and we determined that mutant animals exhibit dysfunctional periderm formation, resulting in abnormal intracellular adhesions. Furthermore, tissue from a fetus with cocoon syndrome, a lethal disorder that results from a nonsense mutation in IKKA, revealed an absence of periderm. Together, these data indicate that periderm plays a transient but fundamental role during embryogenesis by acting as a protective barrier that prevents pathological adhesion between immature, adhesion-competent epithelia. Furthermore, this study suggests that failure of periderm formation underlies a series of devastating birth defects, including popliteal pterygium syndrome, cocoon syndrome, and Bartsocas-Papas syndrome.


Basic principles of living with natural risks are established according to the experience of each country in facing this problem. The strategies adopted for evaluating rockfall hazards and for reducing the potential risk they represent may therefore lead to the development of quite different guidelines. In fact, despite the approach defined for this purpose in most cases consists in coupling intensity and frequency of the process, the diagram used for merging this information and/or the threshold values proposed for the two parameters significantly change. As a consequence, the possible measures to be taken for coping with rockfalls can be strongly influenced, both in terms of land-use planning and design of protection measures. In the framework of the European Project "Mountain Risks: from prediction to management and governance", funded by the European Commission, this paper aims at studying how several different national strategies for facing rockfall hazards may influence hazard zoning results and land-use planning, focusing in particular on some intensity-frequency-based guidelines used in Switzerland, Principality of Andorra and France. The presentation of the factors driving the definition of hazard in each considered country will be followed by the explanation of how classes of hazard are established, and which are the regulations for the development of the territory that correspond to the several classes of hazard proposed in each case. Afterwards, the 2D application of one methodology for hazard zoning will be performed in a study area in Switzerland, following the three different sets of guidelines. The analysis of the results underline how the implementation of the criteria which define the hazard, its intensity and classification do play an important role in the zoning procedure and land-use regulations, as the latter are closely connected to the different level of risk perception and acceptance characterising a given community. Therefore, the remarkable differences obtained from this comparison suggest that, if setting standards in hazard assessment and zoning methods may be possible at least in terms of approach (e.g. intensity-frequency), this is not sufficient for overstepping the differences in the zoning results and land-planning, because of the diverse guidelines each country developed. On the other hand, comparison studies could provide an important help in better understanding and in possibly improving the quality and applicability of risk management procedures.


Dehydration is one of the intrauterine abnormalities that could lead to fetal growth retardation and to increase the risk of a variety of adult diseases later in life. This study were to determine the impact of hydrogen-rich water (HRW) supplementation on placental angiotensin II type 1 receptor and placental oxidative stress induced by water restriction. Pregnant Wistar rat were randomly assigned to one of the three groups (n =12 per group). In control group, pure water and food were supplied ad libitum. Water restriction group and HRW group were respectively given pure water and HRW with free access to food, excepting only one hour was available for drinking from day 7 to day 17 of pregnancy. The placental damages and biomarkers of stress were detected by histopathology, immunohistochemistry and western blot, as well as serological test were performed. We demonstrated that maternal water restriction resulted in reduced urine volume and increased serum osmotic pressure, along with decreased fetus weight and crown-rump length. Although placental weight and the number of fetuses had no significant difference among groups, the placental efficiency significantly increased after the oral administration of HRW to the mothers. Meanwhile, the serological derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites decreased, a significant improvement of placental microstructure with more developed junctional zone and denser labyrinth was manifested, the upregulated expression of angiotensin II type 1 receptor, nuclear factoκB, malondialdehyde, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase and down-regulation of superoxide dismutase were revealed in the placenta. Collectively, HRW administration is able to effectively attenuate placental stress induced by water restriction.


In the period leading to the Civil War, debate over federalism and states' rights developed into the seeds of a war that would forever change America. Over one hundred years later, the debate over federalism continues, unanswered by the blood of more than half a million soldiers. Over the last decade, the United States Supreme Court has increased state sovereignty and state immunity to levels unseen since the pre-Civil War period. The Court's opinions are structured in a manner that relies significantly on historical methodologies. The multiple rationales used to structure the Justices' arguments clash, and the Justices spar with one another over who is being more true to history. This current historical tug of war may be better understood through an analysis of the different historical methodologies employed in the Court's sharply divided opinions. While arguments over history will never end, understanding the methods used by the Justices to find support in the past will better explain the ways the Supreme Court brings history into the issues that affect our lives today. Part I of this article begins with an explanation of the significance of the current federalism debate and the importance of examining the historical arguments used to support the various Justices' opinions of state sovereignty today. Part II describes the manner in which history has been used by the Supreme Court in the past, especially since the 1980s. In Part III, this article dissects four recent states' rights cases and examines the use of history by the Justices. Finally, Part IV argues that the Justices employ multiple rationales, and these different methodologies, along with the incorporation of selective historical evidence, explain the sharp split in the Court's states' rights opinions. Through the use of four historical methodologies – the founding period, precedent, the Civil War and New Deal, and pre-ratification American history – the Justices examine selective historical evidence to construct competing Tenth and Eleventh Amendment federalism opinions.


Background Healthy eating and fitness mobile apps are designed to promote healthier living. However, for young people, body dissatisfaction is commonplace, and these types of apps can become a source of maladaptive eating and exercise behaviors. Furthermore, such apps are designed to promote continuous engagement, potentially fostering compulsive behaviors. Objective The aim of this study was to identify potential risks around healthy eating and fitness app use and negative experience and behavior formation among young people and to inform the understanding around how current commercial healthy eating and fitness apps on the market may, or may not, be exasperating such behaviors. Methods Our research was conducted in 2 phases. Through a survey (n=106) and 2 workshops (n=8), we gained an understanding of young people's perceptions of healthy eating and fitness apps and any potential harm that their use might have; we then explored these further through interviews with experts (n=3) in eating disorder and body image. Using insights drawn from this initial phase, we then explored the degree to which leading apps are preventing, or indeed contributing to, the formation of maladaptive eating and exercise behaviors. We conducted a review of the top 100 healthy eating and fitness apps on the Google Play Store to find out whether or not apps on the market have the potential to elicit maladaptive eating and exercise behaviors. Results Participants were aged between 18 and 25 years and had current or past experience of using healthy eating and fitness apps. Almost half of our survey participants indicated that they had experienced some form of negative experiences and behaviors through their app use. Our findings indicate a wide range of concerns around the wider impact of healthy eating and fitness apps on individuals at risk of maladaptive eating and exercise behavior, including (1) guilt formation because of the nature of persuasive models, (2) social isolation as a result of personal regimens around diet and fitness goals, (3) fear of receiving negative responses when targets are not achieved, and (4) feelings of being controlled by the app. The app review identified logging functionalities available across the apps that are used to promote the sustained use of the app. However, a significant number of these functionalities were seen to have the potential to cause negative experiences and behaviors. Conclusions In this study, we offer a set of responsibility guidelines for future researchers, designers, and developers of digital technologies aiming to support healthy eating and fitness behaviors. Our study highlights the necessity for careful considerations around the design of apps that promote weight loss or body modification through fitness training, especially when they are used by young people who are vulnerable to the development of poor body image and maladaptive eating and exercise behaviors.


This issue, guest edited by Bethan Carney and Catherine Waters, re-examines the notorious Trollopian critique of Charles Dickens as 'Mr Popular Sentiment', investigating both the complex affective power of his writing and the strong and divided emotional responses it has elicited. As well as essays exploring fiction, journalism, letters, memoirs, portraits and a range of other forms of material culture, it includes a Forum on 'Bicentennial Sentiment: Dickens and Feeling Now'. The contributions to this issue invite us to reconsider how we feel about Dickens and about Dickensian feeling 200 years after his birth.


What can we say about equity, diversity and inclusion in science communication research over the past 20 years? This is a thorny question because of course we want to be constructive, to recognise change and to respect those whose hard-won research on equity issues has meant so much to many of us. At the same time, it is impossible — given what we know through our research — not to take a critical stance. We critique the status quo of science communication research from a social justice perspective and reflect on how we might change, perhaps bringing what has been marginal (and indeed the marginalised) into the core of science communication research, practice and policy.


Conventionally, ammonia is produced from natural gas via steam methane reforming (SMR), water-gas shift reaction, and the Haber–Bosch process. The process uses fossil natural gas, which leads to 2.6 metric tons of life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per metric ton of ammonia produced. With ammonia being the second most produced chemical in the world, its production accounts for approximately 2% of worldwide fossil energy use and generates over 420 million tons of CO2 annually. To reduce its carbon intensity, ammonia synthesis relying on renewable energy or utilizing by-products from industrial processes is of interest. We conduct a life cycle analysis of conventional and alternative ammonia production pathways by tracking energy use and emissions in all conversion stages, from the primary material and energy resources to the ammonia plant gates. Of all the alternative pathways, obtaining N2 from cryogenic distillation and H2 from low-temperature electrolysis using renewable electricity has the lowest cradle-to-plant-gate GHG emissions, representing a 91% decrease from the conventional SMR pathway.


This article will present the results of two related experiments, whose aim is to evaluate the degree of spontaneous listening Intercomprehension (IC) between French and Italian, as far as lexis is concerned, and to see if the success and the difficulties encountered are symmetrical or not, depending on the language, whether French or Italian. First of all, a group of Italian people, who have never studied French, was invited to listen to a set of French words and asked to associate them spontaneously to the corresponding Italian words. At a later stage, the same words in Italian were presented to a group of French people, who did not know Italian, and who, in contrast, were asked to associate a French word to each Italian word heard. The results of this observation were interpreted in the light of the models of listening comprehension, thus showing that an area of substantial transparency effectively exists in two similar percentages, although these are slightly lower for francophones. Moreover, evidence shows that in both cases adults are better at ease in performing this task than teenagers. However, transparency is not always symmetrical if according to the direction of the pairings, and a maximum gap between transparency and opacity from one language to the other occurs in some words. Sommaire


"From a lump of clay a vessel is made, what makes it useful is the space within. For a room, we make doors and windows, but what makes a room habitable is the empty space within it". The quote from Lao Tzu perfectly describes a space which is not empty but has gaps that Jonathan Hill describes as fragmentations. In film, we perceive this as arrangements of montages. Montages are a spatial exercise, where fragments from other sites are brought to a new location while at the same time maintaining the essence of the original fragments. The same principal applies when we perceive places, i.e. through a series of fragments. Fragments comprise the spatial, physical or natural components and also many more attributes of the city. Since our visual perception is fragmentary in nature, a single glance is not sufficient to absorb everything. Similarly, in a film, a scene is viewed through a series of glances and must be choreographed and scripted accordingly. In a screenplay contains within it, the opening scene, build-up plots of suspense and climax. This is perhaps the ingredients or prescriptions that make watching movies an interesting, exciting and enjoyable experience. Although places do contain a series of fragments and montages but rarely are choreographed or programmed to behave and be assimilated like watching movies where every moment of the scene gives the viewers very different, unique and distinct experiences. This paper outlines a theoretical urban design exercise that adopts the idea of film making by decoding and translating the screenplay frameworks into architectural montages whereby three components of the screenplay which are the set or backdrop is defined as ambiance of the place, the actors are defined as space and people and lastly the choreograph or script as events and programmes of the place. This framework is used as an approach to reanimate a neighbourhood in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The potentialities and dilemmas of the context is studied, identified and translated according to the screenplay sequence which consists of opening, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 210, © 2016 WIT Press doi:10.2495/SDP160241 Sustainable Development and Planning VIII 287


In over 40% of the collapsed or severely damaged buildings in Mexico City, pounding of adjacent buildings occurred, and in at least 15% was the primary cause of collapse. The main objectives of this paper are to identify and discuss the primary causes of pounding of adjacent engineered buildings; and to assess their observed performance in regard to improving the earthquake-resistant design and construction of new adjacent buildings and retrofitting existing ones where separation appears to be inadequate. The primary cause for the severe pounding was the insufficient separation between these adjacent buildings and the main reasons for this insufficiency are identified. Comparison of Mexico and U. S. earthquake regulations indicates that if buildings would be designed and constructed to satisfy just the minimum code requirements, and if ground motions like those recorded at SCT could occur in the U. S. cities, the problem of pounding between adjacent buildings located in soft soils could be even more serious in the U. S. than in Mexico City.


We conducted a survey of adults in Kotohira, a town of about 10,000 people located in the Nakatado District of Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. The survey was distributed to 8184 individuals, and effective responses were received from 3863 persons (response rate, 47.2%) during the survey period. Results regarding numbness and pain showed numbness alone in 7.7%, pain alone in 7.2%, both numbness and pain in 6.0%, and neither numbness nor pain in 79.6%. Spine and spinal cord damage was reported present by 5.4%, and absent by 94.6%. Analysis using the Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire, with comparison between subjects reporting both numbness and pain in the extremities and subjects with either numbness or pain alone, showed lower scores for in Short-Form Health Survey subscales (physical functioning, role [physical, emotional], bodily pain, vitality, and mental health). Subjects with numbness alone generally reported no disability in daily life. In a secondary survey, analysis of neurological findings by specialists identified 6 cases of "pain following spinal cord damage" in which spinal cord-related pain developed in the hands or feet. This represented 0.15% of the survey population starting from the primary survey.


It is well known that MIMO systems offer the promise of achieving very high spectrum efficiencies (many tens of bits/Hz) in a mobile environment. The gains in MIMO capacity are sensitive to the presence of spatial and temporal correlation introduced by the radio environment. In this paper we examine how MIMO capacity is influenced by a number of factors, e.g.: a) temporal correlation, b) various combinations of low/high spatial correlations at either end, c) combined spatial and temporal correlations, In all cases we compare the channel capacity that would be achievable under independent fading. We investigate the behaviour of "capacity fades", examine how often the capacity experiences the fades, develop a method to determine level crossing rates and average data durations and relate these to antenna numbers.


Young Philologist Academy (YPA) is a newly launched project initiated in 2011and developed by the staff of Foreign Languages Department, Institute of Humanities. The main aim of the project is to find an effective way to promote studies of the English Philology and Linguistics among final and penultimate year high school students, to foster their creativity and critical thinking abilities and to encourage cooperation between the University staff and students. The meetings of YPA lasted from November 2011 till June 2012, all of them tackling specific English language aspects or focussing on some issues of life in the UK. Five guest speakers and twenty two staff members at the Foreign Languages Department contributed to the project. Over 100 students from Vilnius, Alytus, Anyksciai, Utena, and surrounding areas registered their interest in the project at the initial phase; this rather big number signalling the expressed demand for such type of learning. Throughout the duration of the project, YPA students were asked to complete several questionnaires in order to assess their own linguistic abilities and the success of the project. The findings obtained from the analysis of these questionnaires could be of interest to both university and high school English teachers as they highlight some of the needs of the English learners that a successful English language course should address. Participants' demographic data, self-assessment of their English language skills and their expectations from YPA are discussed. The validity of the research findings is backed by statistical processing of self-evaluation data using SPSS (Software Package for Social Sciences).


In his study of religion Ernest Renan incorporated the nineteenth-century's linkage between language, race and culture, in particular the Semitic-Aryan binary. Islam and Judaism were united in semitism, a narrow religiosity that represented a bar to progress and modernity. Judaism and Islam were disparaged as twins in upholding a tyrannical religious law with rage and fanaticism. Islam in particular was marked as a debased continuation of Semitism into the modern world. Indo-Europeans, in contrast, had brought to the collective history of mankind the spirit of flexibility and the unfettered use of reason that had triumphed in the modern age. Renan and Arnold's search for a suitable religion for modernity found a focus in Gobineau's writings about Persian Shi'ism. Taking his cue from Gobineau, in his essay "A Persian Passion Play" Arnold instances Shi'ism as a blending of strict Semitic monotheism with a more generous, spiritual tenderness characteristic of an Aryanized Christianity. Gobineau's account of Shi'ism's mid-nineteenth-century offshoot Babism, exemplified Persia's putative Aryan genius. The quality of sacrifice its followers evinced in the face of fierce opposition and repression especially moved Renan and Arnold as a modern manifestation of the leaven of martyrdom. Gobineau's emphasis fell on the Bab as a messiah in the Christian mode, advancing a claim of a higher order than that of an Imam Mahdi in the Islamic idiom, so producing a variant of the European nineteenth-century penchant for discerning, in Tomoko Masuzawa's phrase: "universalistic religion, genuinely Aryan in … origin, arising quite independent of Semitic monotheism." Renan, Arnold and Gobineau each descried in these manifestations of religious feeling embedded in traditional practices and recent episodes in the Near East solvents for the agnostic scientism of Europe, even while their observations remained meshed into the Victorian conflation of race and modernity.


The present study investigated the effect of ingested fluid composition on the experience of exercise-related transient abdominal pain (ETAP). Forty subjects, susceptible to ETAP, completed 4 treadmill exercise trials: a no-fluid trial and flavored water (FW, no carbohydrate, osmolality = 48 mosmol/L, pH = 3.3), sports drink (SD, freshly mixed Gatorade, 6% total carbohydrate, 295 mosmol/L, pH = 3.3), and reconstituted fruit juice (FJ, BERRI trade mark orange, 10.4 % total carbohydrate, 489 mosmol/L, pH= 3.2) trials. Measures of the experience of ETAP and gastrointestinal disturbances, particularly bloating, were quantified. The FJ was significantly (p =.01) more provocative of both ETAP and bloating than all other trials. There was no difference among the no-fluid, FW, and SD in the severity of ETAP experienced, although the difference between the no-fluid and SD approached significance at the.05 level (p =.056). There was a significant relationship between both the mean (r = 0.40, p =.01) and peak (r= 0.44, p=.01) levels of ETAP and bloating. When the level of bloating was controlled for, the FJ remained significantly (p =.01) more provocative of ETAP than the other conditions, with no difference between the FW and SD (p =.37). The results indicate that in order to avoid ETAP, susceptible individuals should refrain from consuming reconstituted fruit juices and beverages similarly high in carbohydrate content and osmolality, shortly before and during exercise. Further, the mechanism responsible for the heightened experience of ETAP in the FJ trial extends beyond a gastric mass explanation.


The most widely used method in recommendation systems is collaborative filtering, of which, a critical step is to analyze a user's preferences and make recommendations of products or services based on similarity analysis with other users' ratings. However, collaborative filtering is less usable for recommendation facing the "cold start" problem, i.e. few comments being given to products or services. To tackle this problem, we propose an improved method that combines collaborative filtering and data classification. We use hotel recommendation data to test the proposed method. The accuracy of the recommendation is determined by the rankings. Evaluations regarding the accuracies of Top-3 and Top-10 recommendation lists using the 10-fold cross-validation method and ROC curves are conducted. The results show that the Top-3 hotel recommendation list proposed by the combined method has the superiority of the recommendation performance than the Top-10 list under the cold start condition in most of the times.


This commentary examines political and economic aspects of open access (OA) and scholarly journal publishing. Through a discourse of critique, neoliberalism is analyzed as an ideology causing many problems in the scholarly journal publishing industry, including the serials crisis. Two major efforts in the open access movement that promote an increase in OA funded by article-processing charges (APC) —the Open Access 2020 (OA2020) and Pay It Forward (PIF) initiatives—are critiqued as neoliberal frameworks that would perpetuate existing systems of domination and exploitation. In a discourse of possibility, ways of building a post-neoliberal system of journal publishing using new tactics and strategies, merging theory and praxis, and grounding in solidarity and cooperation are presented. This includes organizing journal publishing democratically using cooperatives, which could decommodify knowledge and provide greater open access. The article concludes with a vision for a New Fair Deal, which would revolutionize the system of scholarly journal publishing by transitioning journals to library publishing cooperatives.


Spatial variation in the strength of trophic cascades in arctic tundra has been related to flows of subsidies across ecosystem boundaries. Here, we ask whether the input of marine subsidies in tundra systems would cause spatial variation in the strength of rodent–plant interactions between coastal areas, where predators have access to marine-derived resources, and non-subsidized inland areas of northern Fennoscandia. We present a detailed evaluation of predator–rodent–vegetation interactions along a coast-inland gradient, during the 2011 rodent outbreak and the two following decline years, by using direct assessments of rodent impacts and tracing of marine-derived nutrients in the food web. Our results revealed that the main rodent predator during summer, the long-tailed jaeger Stercorarius longicaudus, did not benefit from marine resources while breeding (relative dietary proportion in chicks' diet = 0–3%). Contrary to this pattern, parasitic jaegers S. parasiticus, bred exclusively near the coast and preyed effectively on both marine resources (41% of chicks' diet) and rodents (12%). Mammalian predators also showed a higher activity during winter near the coast. Despite overall higher predator numbers, no evidence was found for lower rodent population growth rates during the three monitoring summers and for weaker rodent grazing impacts in the coastal area. Instead, we documented pronounced damages caused by lemmings and voles on bryophytes and vascular plants, especially dwarf shrubs (e.g. Vaccinum myrtillus) all along the coast–inland gradient. Taken together, our results did not support the hypothesis that marine subsidies would trigger a trophic cascade in coastal tundra areas of northern Fennoscandia during a major rodent outbreak, probably due to a relatively low diversity of marine-subsidized predators in the region. Comparative observational and experimental studies at large spatial scales in various arctic regions are absolutely necessary for a better understanding of factors causing regional variations in the functioning of arctic food webs.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

In clinical practice, the main dilemma to a successful ovarian cancer therapy is the development of drug resistance. The mounting evidence demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) not only controlled cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis but also therapeutic resistance of ovarian cancer cell. Recently, we isolated CP70sps(CP70 side population spheres) from CP70 ovarian cancer cell line and proved that CP70sps exhibited more resistant to cisplatin than CP70. This phenomenon was correlated to other study which supported that side population of cancer cells was responsible for chemoresistance. In this study, we compared the expression of miRNAs between CP70sps and CP70 to investigate the role of miRNAs in cisplatin resistance of ovarian cancer cells. Our miRNA array and quantitative RT-PCR data showed that CP70sps expressed lower level of miR-29a/b/c family than CP70 cells and CP70sps4wks cells which were repopulation of CP70sps in attached condition. After knockdown of miR-29a/b/c family by miRNA inhibitors, reduction of miR-29a/b/c family enhanced cisplatin resistance of CP70 cells. However, there was no effect on cell cycle and proliferation rate in both CP70 cells and A2780, a parental cisplatin-sensitive cell line of CP70 cells. Downregulation of miR-29a/b/c family contributed cells to escape cisplatin-induced cell death through COL1A1 upregulation. Moreover, reduction of miR-29a/b/c increased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and GSK3β to transduce survival signaling and reduced active form casepase-9 to avoid cell apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that either ectopic expression of miR-29 alone or combination of miR-29 with cisplatin treatment efficaciously reduced tumorigenicity of CP70 cells in immunodeficiency mice. Finally, we ascertained that the ovarian cancer patients with high expression of miR-29a had better overall survival rate. Taken together, our data demonstrated that the miR-29 family was a sensitizer for cisplatin treatment and might be associated with tumorigenecity of ovarian cancer cells.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1110. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-1110


Unstable external environment, unfavorable market conditions and escalating global competition necessitate developing new management technologies to overcome the disproportionality in the economic systems functioning. The polystructural properties of the national tourism system (NTS), as a significant component of the national economic system, require multisubject management. The mutisubject management process ensures a balanced interplay of its constituent elements and the coherence of economic entities' interests. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to study the essence of multisubject NTS management.It is revealed that multisubject NTS management is the process of forming and developing mutually coordinated and effective interaction of subjects of the public and private sectors, as well as consumers for the consolidated creation of tourism product based on constructive inter-subject communication.The main groups of entities that have a managerial influence on the national tourism system, that is form multisubject management, are identified. On this basis, the configuration of multisubject NTS management and the structural and logical scheme for coordinating its participants' interests are proposed. Given the NTS polystructural properties, the definition of the synergistic effect of integrated cooperation in the format of multisubject management is proved. According to the study results, a step-by-step procedure for estimating multisubject management is proposed, which determines the interaction level and the vector of equilibrium of the NTS entities.


In many critical systems domains, test suite adequacy is currently measured using structural coverage metrics over the source code. Of particular interest is the modified condition/decision coverage (MC/DC) criterion required for, e.g., critical avionics systems. In previous investigations we have found that the efficacy of such test suites is highly dependent on the structure of the program under test and the choice of variables monitored by the oracle. MC/DC adequate tests would frequently exercise faulty code, but the effects of the faults would not propagate to the monitored oracle variables. In this report, we combine the MC/DC coverage metric with a notion of observability that helps ensure that the result of a fault encountered when covering a structural obligation propagates to a monitored variable; we term this new coverage criterion Observable MC/DC (OMC/DC). We hypothesize this path requirement will make structural coverage metrics 1.) more effective at revealing faults, 2.) more robust to changes in program structure, and 3.) more robust to the choice of variables monitored. We assess the efficacy and sensitivity to program structure of OMC/DC as compared to masking MC/DC using four subsystems from the civil avionics domain and the control logic of a microwave. We have found that test suites satisfying OMC/DC are significantly more effective than test suites satisfying MC/DC, revealing up to 88% more faults, and are less sensitive to program structure and the choice of monitored variables.


Does amoxicillin exposure increase the risk of rash in children with acute Epstein–Barr virus infection?

You assess a 6-year-girl with tonsillitis. Group A beta-haemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) has been isolated from the throat swab. She was prescribed penicillin V, but is refusing to take this because she does not like the taste. Her mother is requesting a prescription for amoxicillin, which the girl has tolerated well previously. Your consultant is reluctant to prescribe amoxicillin, as he is concerned that it can precipitate rash if the underlying presentation is actually due to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), with the isolation of GABHS reflecting commensal growth. You wonder how common an amoxicillin-related rash is in children with acute EBV.

In children with acute glandular fever (patient), does treatment with amoxicillin (intervention) increase the risk of rash (outcome)?

PubMed, Ovid and Cochrane were searched using the following terms: 'infectious mononucleosis' OR 'Epstein-Barr virus' OR 'glandular fever' AND 'amoxicillin' OR 'ampicillin' AND 'cutaneous' OR 'eruption' OR 'rash'. The search returned a total of 31 publications. After the exclusion of case reports and review articles, five studies were found …


The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) remains a high priority conservation species despite recent increases in UK populations. Specifically, a marked increase in surveyed site occupancy (50%) was observed on the Isle of Anglesey (North Wales) between 2002 and 2009. Understanding the drivers that act upon the distribution of L. lutra will allow for more targeted conservation efforts. In this study, species distribution modelling (MaxEnt) was applied to predict the potential distribution of L. lutra across Anglesey. Elevation and, distance to roads and water (m) were found to be the most influential factors in determining the distribution of individuals across all models. The generated models performed better than random and were capable of identifying areas where L. lutra could potentially occur across Anglesey (AUC = 0.818). Locations for concentrating future research efforts are suggested through analysis of spatial variation, human disturbance effects and population analysis across the study region. This study provides a baseline of L. lutra habitation possibility across Anglesey and exposes areas for future conservation in habitat management and research efforts.


Previous studies have reported a familial predisposition for the development of atopy, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and clinical asthma, and therefore have suggested the presence of a heritable component to these disorders. The specific contributions of genetic and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of allergic disease and asthma have not been determined although Cookson et al. [1] have postulated linkage between atopy and chromosome 11q. We have studied 20 families (two and three generations) ascertained through a proband identified as having asthma (90% were also allergic) during the period of time between 1962 and 1970. Of those who were originally skin test positive, 82% remained positive. All probands whose pulmonary function allowed retesting (FEV1 > 1.21) remained hyperresponsive to histamine. The children of these probands are now in the same age range as their parents when they were originally evaluated; 66% are atopic using criteria described by Cookson et al. (one or more positive skin tests ≥2 mm, an elevated total serum IgE or a positive specific IgE) and 22% demonstrate bronchial hyperresponsiveness (PC20 FEV1) to histamine. Using the highly polymorphic marker INT2 (which maps 2 cM from pλMS.51 on chromosome 11q) and atopy, we obtained a lod score of – 2.00 at a recombination fraction of 0.12. In addition, because many studies have suggested an association between atopy and certain HLA antigens, we investigated the possibility of linkage between atopy and bronchial hyperresponsiveness and D6S105, a polymorphic marker on chromosome 6p, located 7 cM from HLA‐DR. For this marker and atopy, we observed a lod score of – 2.00 with a recombination fraction of 0.07. Similar results were observed with both of these markers and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. By restudying these probands as well as their family members, we were unable to find evidence for linkage between atopy or bronchial hyperresponsiveness and these regions of chromosomes 11 and 6 in this population.


Direct Jump Probe (djprobe) is an enhancement to kprobe, the existing facility that uses breakpoints to create probes anywhere in the kernel. Djprobe inserts jump instructions instead of breakpoints, thus reducing the overhead of probing. Even though the kprobe "booster" speeds up probing, there still is too much overhead due to probing to allow for the tracing of tens of thousands of events per second without affecting performance. This presentation will show how the djprobe is designed to insert a jump, discuss the safety of insertion, and describe how the cross self-modification (and so on) is checked. This presentation also provides details on how to use djprobe to speed up probing and shows the performance improvement of djprobe compared to kprobe and kprobe-booster.


In this book Andrew Motion has made his own choice from his outstandingly fine and varied body of work. Dramatic monologues, elegies, poems of social and political observation, love lyrics - all are part of this important poet's repertoire. Andrew Motion's concern for the extremes of human experience and the artistic integrity that insists on his addressing the reader with maximum clarity and impact are consistent features of a career otherwise remarkable for its imaginative range and technical versatility.


3D GAME PROGRAMMING ALL IN ONE, THIRD EDITION is perfect for anyone interested in learning the skills and processes involved in making 3D games. This new edition of the bestselling book shows you how to design and create every aspect of a fully featured game using the Torque 3D game engine. Starting with an introduction to game programming, this comprehensive book provides an overview of the gaming industry, game engines, programming, 3D concepts, texturing and modeling, and even audio engineering. After all the techniques are presented, you will use your new skills and the material on the DVD to create a game. The DVD contains everything you need to create a complete game, including all of the TorqueScript source code in sample and final form, the Torque 3D Tools Demo game engine, MilkShape 3D for 3D player and item modeling, The Gimp 2 for texture and image manipulation, Audacity for sound editing and recording, UVMapper for performing UV unwrapping tasks, and Torsion, the Integrated Development Environment tool for TorqueScript code.


Security models, developed for databases, differ in many aspects because they focus on different features of the database security problem or because they make different assumptions about what constitutes a secure database. This leads to disjointed and incomplete understanding of the organizational security strategy. This makes it difficult to reconcile different security requirements. This paper discusses the various security issues in databases. This approach is useful for the planning of explicit and directive based database security requirements.


Background: The issues surrounding girls' lack of participation in physical activity are many and varied, but
generally relate to the broader social context of adolescent health in which the social relations of gender play a significant part in a lack of engagement with sports; with a lack of physical skills and confidence for
equitable participation; friendship considerations; body image issues and a concern about bullying and
harassment.

Objectives: This paper reports on data collected as part of a larger project researching the impact of a non-traditional physical education and health intervention designed to build girls connectedness to each other,
their school and their community by engaging them in a girls' only negotiated physical activity program that
was supported by a targeted health education curricula.

Underlying values and principles: Grade 8 girls in the State of Victoria, Australia have the lowest school
connectedness data than any other cohort. Using youth participation principles and underpinned by strong
educational guidelines an integrated health and physical education program was developed by a high school
in Australia in an attempt to improve connectedness. It facilitated the exploration of a number of different
lifestyle physical activities such as bellying dance, self-defense and yoga, to engage the girls with alternative
physical activities that were potentially available in their community as well as discussion and activities on
sexuality, body image and mental health.

Knowledge base/ Evidence base: Whilst evaluation of girls' only physical activity programs are not new,
research into the impact of an integrated school-based health and physical education curricula are and have
implications for future school based approaches.

Context of intervention/project/work: The project initially focused on adolescent girls at a small 7-12
Secondary College in an isolated community approximately 200 kilometres from the Capital city of Victoria. A
grant was awarded to a consortium of local/regional agencies to implement and extend the program over
three years. Overwhelmingly the program was conducted by regional and local agencies in conjunction with
the local secondary school. It is a partnerships model built on the notion of increasing participation and
access for young women whilst building a sustainable program run in partnership with the school and local
agencies and services. In 2009 the program was also run in a metropolitan secondary school that had a
similar socia-economic background. This paper draws on data from both schools.

Methods: This paper reports on qualitative date collected on young women's perceptions of the program, its
contribution to their health and wellbeing and the impact of the program on understandings of health related
issues of relevance to young women. The data is drawn from focus group data collected from two high
schools in the state of Victoria, Australia in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Sixty five girls' in grade 7, 8, 9 and 10
participated in the pre and post program interviews.

Results and Conclusions: We argue that whilst the data indicates that a girls only program can have a
pOSitive impact on aspect of connectedness such as relationships with their peers, reducing bullying
behaviour, the data raises some important questions around the adequacy of school-based health education,
and the sustainability of approaches designed to be delivered by outside agencies rather than classroom
teachers. We argue that whilst single sex health and physical education programs may be necessary for girls
to participate and engage fully, the current approach has little impact on traditional notions of gender and
body issues.

Disclosure of Interest: Centre for Educational Futures and Innovation, Grant Research Support. Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Grant Research Support.


Abstract For the last 20 years, fusion material programs in Europe, Japan and US have been focused on developing Reduced Activation Ferritic/Martensitic (RAFM) steels as prominent structural materials. In the European Union, within the Long Term Programme of EFDA (European Fusion Development Agreement), considerable effort has been spent by several scientific institutions for the characterization and optimization of the European reference RAFM steel (EUROFER97). Within the Belgian Nuclear Centre (SCK·CEN), an integrated approach to the characterization of EUROFER97 is being consistently applied; this includes: neutron irradiations in the BR2 reactor and subsequent characterization of the unirradiated and irradiated mechanical properties (tensile, impact and fracture toughness tests); investigation of environmentally assisted cracking (more specifically, study of the influence of irradiation damage on both EAC and embrittlement in Pb-Li alloys); multiscale modelling of radiation effects and specific effects on Fe-Cr systems, using methods which range from the atomic level (MD – Molecular Dynamics) to the mesoscopic level (KMC – Kinetic Monte Carlo). This paper will provide a general overview of the above mentioned investigations, as well as highlights of the most significant results obtained in the different fields of activity.


This research is intended to analyze the cohesive devices found on the Macbeth's utterances in the drama entitled "Macbeth" in which the devices organize semantic (meaning) relationship between an element and the others. The organization of those elements is categorized as cohesion which is also viewed as one of the elements helps the audience to follow easily the train of thought of the speaker or the writer. Macbeth as the main character of the drama entitled "Macbeth" written by William Shakespeare has constructed many cohesive devices both in grammatical and lexical cohesive devices. Besides Macbeth, the supporting characters also express their utterances by using grammatical and lexical cohesive devices. This drama includes spoken text in the form of dialogues among the characters. Thus, it becomes interesting object to be researched. The problems are covered by the question "What types of grammatical cohesion are found in the drama entitled "Macbeth"?" and "What types of lexical cohesion are found in the drama entitled "Macbeth"?"

This research uses descriptive qualitative research method in which the data are taken from the utterances expressed by Macbeth during his dialogues with other supporting players. The data are analyzed by exploring Halliday and Hasan's theory of cohesive devices.

This research has obtained the following results. On the grammatical cohesive devices which comprise reference, ellipsis, substitution and conjunction, this research finds that the most widely used is reference which function is to indicate reference pronoun. Then, in the second position is followed by conjunction which function is to indicate a connection between ideas. Next, the tie of substitution is found in which it makes the language expressed accurate by substituting specific terms. The last is ellipsis; its function is to simplify the sentences of utterances. Nevertheless, on the lexical cohesive devices which cover reiteration and collocation, it is found that the most widely found is reiteration namely repetition followed by metonym, antonym, synonym, and hyponym. However, Collocation is rarely found.

From the results, it is expected that this research is useful for teachers, students, preachers and any other professions who has intension to produce more qualified and rationale text of speech which can achieve their aim.


Problem Definition: Over the past decades, firms that develop new flavor and fragrance products (a $30 billion per year market) have amassed large amounts of data from their own internal creation processes. Yet, new product creation still mostly relies on human expertise and arduous experimentation. We present a data analytics framework to aid in the flavor and fragrance creation process.

Practical Relevance: We describe general and fundamental algorithmic challenges for creating recipes. We address these challenges and propose an analytics framework to help product developers navigate the space of potential products that arises from combining ingredients and accelerate the overall development process.

Methodology: The framework consists of two steps. In the first step, we use data to fit a metric over products, a procedure we refer to as curation. The metric of choice is the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD), where distances between products are quantified in terms of the pairwise similarity between ingredients. The curation process is formulated as a metric learning problem, where the cost matrix used in EMD computations is directly fit from labeled data. In the second step, we develop analytical tools to aid in the design of new products by sampling and evaluating new products within an (EMD) neighborhood of a seed product, a procedure we refer to as creation.

Results: We introduce efficient algorithms for the curation and creation procedures. We derive parallel metric learning and k-NN search algorithms, an efficient sampling procedure, and an appropriate evaluation criterion across multiple metrics. We illustrate our results and product creation pipeline on open-access datasets.

Managerial Implications: The methods we propose are new formulations and algorithms that address challenges that we observed as common across the innovation process of different flavor and fragrance firms, and may serve as an inspiration for a broader computational creativity approach used in industry.


Based on a new multiscale hybrid structure of the volatility of the underlying asset price, we study the pricing of a European option in such a way that the resultant option price has a desirable correction to the Black-Scholes formula. The correction effects are obtained by asymptotic analysis based upon the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck diffusion that decorrelates rapidly while fluctuating on a fast time-scale. The subsequent implied volatilities demonstrate a smile effect right geometry, which overcomes the major drawback of the Black-Scholes model as well as local volatility models, and move to a right direction as the underlying asset price increases right dynamics, which fits the observed market behavior and removes the possible instability of hedging that the local volatility models may cope with. Further, we demonstrate that our correction brings significant improvement in terms of fitting to the implied volatility surface through a calibration exercise. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper considers the problems of learning concepts from large-scale data sets. The way we take is completely classification algorithm independent. Firstly, the original problem is decomposed into a series of smaller two-class sub-problems which are easier to be solved. Secondly we present two principles, namely the shrink and expansion principles, to restore the global solution from the intermediate results learned from the sub-problems. In the theoretical analysis, this procedure of integration is described as a statistical inference of a posteriori probability and is degraded as the min-max principles in the special case considering 0-1 outputs. We also propose a revised approach which reduces the computational complexity of the training and testing stage to a linear level . Finally, experiments on both the synthetic and text-classification data are demonstrated. The results indicate that our methods are effective to large scale problems.


The aim of the article is to verify the hypothesis, that despite the cultural differences existing among Great Britain, Hungary and Poland, all enterprises put much effort to ensure good conditions for knowledge sharing by their employees. It consists of two major parts. In the first one, the theoretical concepts of culture and knowledge are presented. In the second part, the interpretation of results obtained in research on macro and micro level analyses in three European countries are shown. The macro level analysis is based on the differences in cultural dimensions presented by G. Hofstede and R. Gestland while the micro level analysis is conducted based on the results of empirical investigation carried out by International Research Group: Marketing in the XXI century, among companies operating in Great Britain, Hungary and Poland. Results obtained through this survey are compared with cultural dimensions in order to see how significant the distance between the received theory and empirical investigation is.


Abstract This article analyses recent trends in coastal urban growth, mainly prompted by tourism in its various forms, experienced along the Spanish Mediterranean coasts and the Canary Islands, with a special focus on the Balearic Islands. The article seeks to measure and compare the differential rates of urban growth between island and continental coasts during the period 1990-2006, coinciding with the latest major economic growth cycle in Southwestern Europe, and where real estate and tourism activities have played a central role. The results suggest that the degree of urbanization in island coastal regions analysed is lower than that of mainland coastal regions.


The methods for computer characterization of voids in crystal structures using Voronoi-Dirichlet polyhedra are applied to microporous mineral phases. It is shown that these methods allow an appropriate visualization of interstitial voids, cavities, cages, and channels, which provides an estimate of their geometrical properties, such as size and shape. Some typical minerals are considered to analyse the system of voids, and the methods are found to be an effective tool for predicting the type and positions of interstitial cations.


Abstract The results from a theoretical and experimental investigation of the dynamic response of cylindrically curved laminated composite shells subjected to normal blast loading are presented. The dynamic equations of motion for cylindrical laminated shells are derived using the assumptions of Love's theory of thin elastic shells. Kinematically admissible displacement functions are chosen to represent the motion of the clamped cylindrical shell and the governing equations are obtained in the time domain using the Galerkin method. The time-dependent equations of the cylindrically curved laminated shell are then solved by the Runge–Kutta–Verner method. Finite element modelling and analysis for the blast-loaded cylindrical shell are also presented. Experimental results for cylindrically curved laminated composite shells with clamped edges and subjected to blast loading are presented. The blast pressure and strain measurements are performed on the shell panels. The strain response frequencies of the clamped cylindrical shells subjected to blast load are obtained using the fast Fourier transformation technique. In addition, the effects of material properties on the dynamic behaviour are examined. The strain–time history curves show agreement between the experimental and analysis results in the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical panels. However, there is a discrepancy between the experimental and analysis results in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical panels. A good prediction is obtained for the response frequency of the cylindrical shell panels.


It is the year of grandfamilies in our nation's capital. Not since the mid-1990s has there been so much activity among federal lawmakers and policymakers to try to help all grandfamilies, both those within and outside the foster care system. In August 2015, a major piece of legislation was introduced in Congress, which would make holistic reforms to our nation's child welfare financing system. For the first time, child welfare funds could be used to provide supportive services to parents and grandfamilies outside the system, so children do not have to enter it. For those children who are removed from their parents, a piece of draft legislation strengthens existing provisions requiring the identification and notification of relatives. This draft legislation would further help to ensure that relatives can become licensed foster parents – as one of the many options available to them—and have access to the services and supports that accompany that designation. For the first GrandFamilies Vol. 2(2), 2015 111 time in over 20 years, there will also be significant changes to which data on children in relative and non-relative foster care is collected. All of this activity builds on the momentum of recent federal laws that made significant reforms supporting grandfamilies. After many years of working to raise awareness, 2015 seems to have turned the federal tide towards supporting the heroic grandparents and other relatives who come forward to raise some of our nation's most vulnerable children.


Ligament primarily stabilizes the diarthrodial joints and function to provide stability and support during the motion of diarthrodial joints. These functions are assisted by the congruent geometry of the articulating joint surfaces and musculotendinous forces. Ligament exhibits viscoelastic, or time-dependent behavior, like many tissues in the body. From the medical point of view an understanding of the biomechanics of ligaments are crucial for the understanding of injury mechanisms and to evaluate existing surgical repair techniques. The mode of failure in ligaments depends strongly on the rate of loading. Thus, ligament viscoelasticity is an important determinant of tissue response to loading, and viscous dissipation by the tissue modulates the potential for injury. Many mathematical models have been developed to describe the complexity of these behaviors that could include the microphysical interactions of various constituents but none of them seems to represents the overall properties of these structures. Models can be an important tool in understanding tissue structure-function relationships and elucidating the effects of injury, healing, and treatment. The main objective of this work is to study from the biomechanical point of view, the behaviour of an example of the medial collateral ligament in response to stress and strain effects to evaluate the biological behaviour of the ligament. The strain effect as example of the modified superposition method and analyze the results and the model that can express the medial collateral ligament behaviour.


The seven participating laboratories received films of two different thicknesses of Sc2O3 and Rh. All samples of each material were prepared in a single deposition run. Brief descriptions are given of the various methods used for determination of the optical constants of these coating materials. The measurement data are presented, and the results are compared. The mean of the variances of the Sc2O3 refractive-index determinations in the 0.40–0.75-nm spectral region was 0.03. The corresponding variances for the refractive index and absorption coefficient of Rh were 0.35 and 0.26, respectively.


This article evaluates Israeli national identity and its core founding tenets of Zionism, democracy, and Judaism. For decades, demographic changes and associated cultural and ideological fluctuations have gradually pushed Israel into a national identity conflict, as multiple ethnic and sectarian identity groups have come to promote competing interpretations of the state's purpose, political nature, and connection to territory. Continued demographic shifts, situated amid the sociopolitical dynamics of what this article will define as Israel's "democratic tribalism," will further test the compatibility of the constituent parts of Israeli national identity: the respective roles of Zionist ideology, democratic institutions, and the territory of the historic Jewish homeland.


Thumb-indexed edition It takes its dignified place in the Cassell series, that fountainhead and model of "modern lexicography," said Le Lingue del Mondo. "The compilers have given an excellent working tool to the English and ourselves." This entirely new dictionary is designed as a mirror of contemporary Italian life but it includes obsolete words and phrases which are recurrent in the works of classic Italian writers for the benefit of readers and students of Italian literature.


Data comparison is widely used in computing system to perform many operation. Where incoming information is needs to be compared with a piece of stored data to locate the matching entry. If both incoming bits and stored bits are matching means there is no error if mismatched means some type of error will occurred like random error or burst error. To detect and correct the error here error correcting codes are used. To further reduce the latency and complexity, in addition, a new butterfly-formed weight accumulator (BWA) is proposed for the efficient computation of the Hamming distance. The proposed architecture examines whether the incoming data matches the stored data if a certain number of burst errors are corrected. The basic function of the BWA is to count the number of 1's among its input bits. It consists of multiple stages of HAs where each output bit of a HA is associated with a weight. The HAs in a stage are connected in a butterfly form so as to accumulate the carry bits and the sum bits of the upper stage separately.


OBJECTIVES
Prognosis of patients with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from pulmonary artery has dramatically improved as a result of both, early diagnosis and improvements in surgical techniques. Post surgical complications are rare and most patients show quick improvement of the left ventricular performance after repair with complete functional recovery within one year after surgery. Exercise-induced electrocardiographic changes have been found in patients postoperatively and scars and perfusion deficits of the left ventricle may not be detected by standard echocardiographic evaluation.

METHODS
Authors present 6 cases of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from pulmonary artery observed at Martin Univesity Hospital and Pediatric Cardiology Clinic over the last eight-year period. In order to assess the presence of myocardial injury, cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging with late gadolinium enhancement technique was performed in all 6 cases one year after surgical correction.

RESULTS
One patient died 1.5 year after surgical treatment. One year after surgery, the heart size and myocardial functions returned to normal in all patients. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated subendocardial late gadolinium enhancement in varios segments of the left ventricle, representing myocardial fibrosis in all patients one year after surgical correction.

CONCLUSION
Because of the presence of scarr tissue, the long term prognosis of these patients remains unclear. The damaged tissue may have arrhythmogenic potential, therefore close follow-up, excercise testing and avoidance of high-level sport activities may be needed.


In an effort to develop a high-ductility/low-damage lateral-load resisting system, an experimental shear wall consisting of rigid LVL panels is fabricated and tested with slip-friction connectors acting as hold-downs. The slip-friction connectors are fabricated in such a way that their force-displacement behaviour can be described by close to an ideal elasto-plastic shape. With the application of an increasing racking force at a top-corner of the wall, the slip-force in the connectors is eventually attained at which point sliding takes place and the wall corner displaces upwards. The wall thus displays a form of rocking behaviour, and this places a cap on the activated base shear. In order to resist this activated base shear, a new type of shear key is included at the bottom centre of the wall. The shear key consists of vertical steel plates welded to the foundation, placed on both sides of the wall, and with shear pins inserted through the plane of the wall, bearing directly against the edge of the plates. In order to facilitate rocking and to reduce the influence of the shear key on the force-displacement behaviour, the plates are sloped at a slight angle to the vertical. An equation is derived that quantifies the effect on the wall strength due to the interaction of the slip-friction connectors and the shear key. It is found that the predicted wall strengths align closely with the experimentally measured values. Furthermore, as expected, the hysteretic behaviour of the wall is highly elasto-plastic, and the strength of the wall can be readily 'tuned' through the use of Belleville washers in achieving and maintaining bolt preload. The wall readily descends at one end, while uplifting at the other end and this indicates that it would likely have good re-centring ability under an actual earthquake. The results show the possibility of inherently brittle structures being made ductile through the application of a simple and cheap steel friction device.


A common metric for assessing the performance of binary classifiers is the Log-Loss score, which is a real number indicating the cross entropy distance between the predicted distribution over the labels and the true distribution (a point distribution defined by the ground truth labels). In this paper, we show that a malicious modeler, upon obtaining access to the Log-Loss scores on its predictions, can exploit this information to infer all the ground truth labels of arbitrary test datasets with full accuracy. We provide an efficient algorithm to perform this inference. A particularly interesting application where this attack can be exploited is to breach privacy in the setting of Membership Inference Attacks. These attacks exploit the vulnerabilities of exposing models trained on customer data to queries made by an adversary. Privacy auditing tools for measuring leakage from sensitive datasets assess the total privacy leakage based on the adversary's predictions for datapoint membership. An instance of the proposed attack can hence, cause complete membership privacy breach, obviating any attack model training or access to side knowledge with the adversary. Moreover, our algorithm is agnostic to the model under attack and hence, enables perfect membership inference even for models that do not memorize or overfit. In particular, our observations provide insight into the extent of information leakage from statistical aggregates and how they can be exploited.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of flat foot in a population of 7-12 year old students and to investigate the relationship between flat foot and age and sex. Method: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 945 students (460 girls and 485 boys) were examined. The presence of flatfoot and the degree of its severity according to Tachdjian's system of grading for flatfoot was assessed. Results: The data showed that the overall prevalence of flat foot was 74% out of which 23% were mild, 34% were moderate and 17% were severe. The prevalence of flat foot in girl and boy students were 75.2% and 72.6% respectively, but this difference was not significant. Moreover, no significant relationship was observed between the prevalence of flat foot and age. Discussion: This study showed that flat foot is a common problem among primary school students and should be addressed by responsible organizations.


Abstract The notion of Quillen factorization system is obtained by strengthening the left and right lifting properties in a Quillen model category to the unique diagonalization property. An equivalent description of this notion is given in terms of a double factorization system which decomposes each arrow uniquely into three factors. The free category with Quillen factorization system over a given category is described.


Smoking cessation among adolescents is a salient public health issue, as it can prevent the adoption of risky health behaviors and reduce negative impacts on health. Self-efficacy, household and social support systems, and perceived benefits are some important cessation determinants. With the popular use of the Internet and cell phone usage among adolescents, smoking cessation programs are beginning to adopt these new delivery methods. The purpose of the study is to review interventions between 2005 and 2009 that used the Internet or cell phones for smoking cessation among 11 to 19 year olds. A systematic search of the CINAHL, ERIC, Google Scholar, and Medline databases was done. A total of 10 articles met the inclusion criteria. Interventions mainly used the Internet as a form of assistance to enhance the effectiveness of the program. One intervention used text messaging through cell phones. Self-efficacy, household and social support systems and perceived benefits were found to be significant predictors. Programs with multiple approaches, using the Internet as an adjunct were more effective than programs that solely relied on the Internet. Future research is needed to verify its success in cessation practices. Recommendations for future research are provided.


TARGET aims at initiating sustainable institutional change in seven gender equality innovating institutions (GEIIs) in the Mediterranean basin – including three research performing organisations (RPOs: University of Belgrade, Serbia; UH2C, Morocco and ELIAMEP - a small non-university research institution located in Greece), three research funding organisations (RFOs: ARACIS, Romania; FRRB, Italy and RPF, Cyprus) as well as the Mediterranean Engineering School's network (RMEI).
The process started with the Gender Equality Audit which serves as a baseline analysis of the status quo of gender equality in each of the seven GEIIs. Based on audit results, gender equality priorities have been defined which are taken up in the Gender Equality Plan or Strategy (GEP/GES) in each GEII.
The TARGET "Gender equality monitoring tool and guidelines for self-assessment" provides concrete guidance for the third stage of the TARGET project for our Gender Equality Innovating Institutions (GEIIs). Like the tools and guidelines presented so far, we don't assume that there is a one fits all solution. In a next step the presented tool will be adapted to the specific circumstances of each GEII to be consistent with the goals formulated in the GEP/GES. Each GEII will develop a targeted set of monitoring indicators together with its supporting partner.


The vivid story of a tightly knit group of travelers--connoisseurs, collectors, scientists--who dedicated themselves to exploring and preserving what they referred to as Old Japan and Old Japan's lasting influence on the culture of Gilded Age America. After the Civil War, the United States--as cultural historian and critic Christopher Benfey argues--lost its philosophical moorings and looked eastward, to Old Japan and its seemingly untouched indigenous culture, for balance and perspective. Japan, meanwhile, was trying to reinvent itself as a more cosmopolitan, modern state, transforming in the space of twenty-five years from a feudal backwater to an international power. It was the parallel rise of these two young nations that initiated some of the major power struggles--both military and economic--of the twentieth century. This great wave of historical and cultural reciprocity brought with it some larger-than-life personalities, and this is their story as well. The lure of unknown foreign cultures played out on both sides of the Pacific, in the lives of Herman Melville, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Adams, John La Farge, Kakuzo Okakura (the author of The Book of Tea), Isabelle Gardner, and Lafcadio Hearn, among others. The Great Wave is a beautifully rendered meditation on the subject of cultural identity and on the consequences--both good and bad--of cultural cross-pollonation. Above all, like Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club, it proves that what important history does at its best is transform our worldview.


Full signaling from the T cell receptor (TCR) requires the presence of the linker for activation of T cells (LAT) protein. Human LAT contains 10 tyrosine residues, of which at least five reside in appropriate amino acid sequence contexts that may associate with phosphotyrosine-binding proteins. Lin and Weiss identified the tyrosine residues on LAT required for proper TCR-dependent calcium mobilization and mitogen-associated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. Tyr132, Tyr171, and Tyr191 together were responsible for mediating normal amounts of calcium flux; the presence of one, but not all, of these tyrosines drastically reduced calcium mobilization. Full MAPK activation required the presence of Tyr110 and Tyr226. In addition, Lin and Weiss found that full MAPK and calcium activation required the critical tyrosine residues to be fully present on individual LAT proteins; mutant LAT proteins containing some, but not all, of the essential tyrosines could not activate MAPK or calcium responses. Thus, although TCR-associated proteins may cluster into high-density complexes at the immune synapses, these results suggest that individual LAT molecules act as a hub for the binding of several critical TCR-dependent signaling proteins. J. Lin, A. Weiss, Identification of the minimal tyrosine residues required for linker for activation of T cell function. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 29588-29595 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


For Ethiopian Jews and (formerly Jewish) Pentecostals in Israel, coffee (buna) is more than just a stimulant, a cultural symbol, or even a social lubricant. It is a material medium for disputes about the limitations of moral agency, the experience of kin relations that have been broken or restructured, and the eruption of dangerous—but also healing—potencies in the social world. Buna consumption has become a focal point for at least three different forms of moral compulsion (physical addiction; zar, or spirit, affliction; and kinship obligations) that are experienced as isomorphic with "culture" and from which freedom is sought. The decision to drink or to refrain from drinking buna has therefore emerged as a fulcrum of moral experience around which different Ethiopian groups in Israel negotiate the limits of "culture" and the quest for an elusive moral freedom. [African Pentecostalism, Ethiopian Jews, existential anthropology, moral experience, religious conversion, culture theory, freedom]


The relative probability to decay towards different vacua during inflation is studied. The calculation is performed in single-field slow-roll potentials using the stochastic inflation formalism. Various situations are investigated, including falling from a local maximum of the potential and escaping from a local minimum. In the latter case, our result is consistent with that of Hawking and Moss, but is applicable to any potential. The decay rates are also computed, and the case of a generic potential with multiple minima and maxima is discussed.


Indonesia's digital economy is predicted to grow to reach US$124 billion in 2025. With the large valuation potential of the digital economy and the development of innovation, it has not been followed by an adequate regulatory framework. The Center of Indonesia Policy Studies conducted a series of research and advocacy to discuss the steps that can be taken to support the digital economy ecosystem in Indonesia. Practically, CIPS uses a handbook from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) to conduct the four main focuses such as consumer protection, data protection, cybersecurity, and electronic transactions.


The use of microfiltration as an alternative to pasteurisation to reduce the microbial load of raw skimmed milk is a well established technology. However, its application in reducing bacteria from highly viscous dairy based solutions has not due to issues of low flux and high fouling tendency. This study involves the application of microfiltration to remove spores from high solids content Milk Protein Isolate (MPI) solutions. MPI feeds were inoculated with Bacillus mycoides spores a safer alternative to Bacillus cereus, a psychrotrophic spore forming bacteria found in dairy feeds. Suitable protocols for MPI resolubilisation, Bacillus mycoides cell and spore preparations were established and the membranes, MPI and spores were fully characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size distribution, rheology and pure water flux (PWF) measurements. Feed and permeate samples collected during experiments were analysed for solids content by oven drying, protein content using the Bradford assay and spore content using PetrifilmTM Aerobic count plates. To try and determine an optimum protocol for MPI filtration, a variety of filtration rig set-ups, modules and membranes were tested. Experiments were carried out at different MPI concentrations (4 – 16 wt%), cross flow velocities (CFV's) (0.7 – 2.0 m s-1) and transmembrane pressures (TMP's ) (1 and 2 bar). The filtration of 15 wt% MPI proved challenging. The best set of results were obtained using the 12.0 μm membrane at 1.4 m s-1, producing a 27 LMH flux, 96.5% protein transmission and a 2.1 log spore reduction. These results indicate that large pore ceramic microfiltration may be a suitable technology to replace or augment pasteurisation for high solids content dairy feeds. The effect of backwashing using different durations and frequencies was investigated. Backwashing parameters of 10 seconds every 5 minutes at 1 bar were found to be the most effective. The optimum cleaning regime found for MPI fouled ceramic membranes involved a long rinsing backflush at 1 bar, acid and alkali steps without backwashing, which produced a 99.6% flux recovery.


We observed 10-year radiographic outcomes in patients with rheumatoid factor positive rheumatoid arthritis prospectively. Group I, II, and III comprised 87, 125, and 89 consecutive subjects with disease duration at presentation of less than 4, 4-24, and 25-255 months, respectively. Initial therapy was with combinations of pulse intravenous (i.v.) methylprednisolone (0-125 mg), cyclophosphamide (100-200 mg), methotrexate (MTX, 5-15 i.v. mg/week) and simultaneous oral cyclosporin A (CSA, 25 mg bid/tid). After disease was controlled i.v. therapy was tapered and switched to oral MTX + CSA. Outcomes from the Larsen Index and Erosive Joint Count were compared in cases and in dropouts with baseline and each other. Significant improvement in the Larsen Index and Erosive Joint Count was observed in Group I (p < 0.0001). In Group II and III the improvement or deterioration was not significant. The Larsen Index and Erosive Joint Count deteriorated significantly in the dropouts compared with baseline and cases (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, in early RA, in a Malayo-Polynesian patient sample, radiological progression could be halted with aggressive combination treatment.


[1] We analyze the contribution of North American (NA) lightning and anthropogenic emissions to ozone concentrations, radiative forcing, and export fluxes from North America during summers 2002 and 2004 using the University of Maryland Chemical Transport Model (UMD-CTM) driven by GEOS-4 reanalysis. Reduced power plant emissions (NOx SIP Call) and cooler temperatures in 2004 compared to 2002 resulted in lower ambient ozone concentrations over the eastern United States. Lightning flash rates in early summer 2004 were 50% higher than 2002 over the United States. Over the North Atlantic, changes in ozone column between early summer 2002 and 2004 due to changes in lightning and meteorology exceeded the change due to emission reductions by a factor of 7. Late summer changes in lightning had a much smaller impact on ozone columns. In summer 2004, net downward radiative flux at the tropopause due to ozone produced from anthropogenic emissions ranged from 0.15 to 0.30 W m−2 across the North Atlantic, while that due to ozone produced from lightning NO emissions ranged from 0.20 to 0.50 W m−2. Enhanced lofting of polluted air followed by stronger westerly winds led to more net export of NOx, NOy, and ozone in early summer 2004 than 2002 despite reduced anthropogenic emissions. Ozone export fluxes across the eastern NA boundary due to anthropogenic emissions were factors of 1.6 and 2 larger than those due to lightning in 2004 and 2002, respectively. Doubling the NA lightning NO source increased downwind ozone enhancements due to lightning NO emissions by one third.


Magnetic domain evolution at the spin reorientation transition (SRT) of (Fe/Ni)/Cu/Ni/Cu(001) is investigated using photoemission electron microscopy. While the (Fe/Ni) layer exhibits the SRT, the interlayer coupling of the perpendicularly magnetized Ni layer to the (Fe/Ni) layer serves as a virtual perpendicular magnetic field exerted on the (Fe/Ni) layer. We find that the perpendicular virtual magnetic field breaks the up-down symmetry of the (Fe/Ni) stripe domains to induce a net magnetization in the normal direction of the film. Moreover, as the virtual magnetic field increases to exceed a critical field, the stripe domain phase evolves into a bubble domain phase. Although the critical field depends on the Fe film thickness, we show that the area fraction of the minority domain exhibits a universal value that determines the stripe-to-bubble phase transition.


The 'peace process' is a common expression in international politics. It describes and
explains events in seemingly disparate locations as Northern Ireland, the Middle East, and
Southern Africa, which share only the common occurrence of violent conflict. One
outstanding feature of these peace processes is the active participation of international
actors or external 'third parties'. Whether they are states, international organisations or nongovernmental
organisations, these external actors comprise an industry focussed on the
peace process. However, in providing assistance to countries making the transition from
war to peace, as an industry these external third parties often reconfigure the political space
of host societies in a manner which frustrates the intended goal of attaining peace.
The following analysis focuses on the process of implementing a comprehensive peace
settlement to show how the peace process industry operates, using the case of Mozambique.
The Mozambican peace process was selected because it is generally presented as a success
which justifies similar activities in future cases. Therefore it is crucial to examine whether
the intervention was a success, what kind of success and a success for whom. As
Mozambique was inundated with international actors engaged in all kinds of activities,
supported by substantial funding, it serves as a useful example from which to study the
peace process industry at work. Mozambique is also one of the poorest countries in the
world and is thus representative of larger processes in the developing world and its
relationship with donors and the United Nations.
This thesis draws out a number of themes on the aggregate impact of external third parties
on the political space of Mozambique and uses this as a basis for reaching conclusions
applicable to other cases. It seeks to contribute to debates in international relations on how
questions regarding the role of international actors in peace processes and the assistance
they provide should be answered.


Objectives: To examine whether past and recent sun exposure and vitamin D status (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels) are associated with risk of first demyelinating events (FDEs) and to evaluate the contribution of these factors to the latitudinal gradient in FDE incidence in Australia. Methods: This was a multicenter incident case-control study. Cases (n = 216) were aged 18–59 years with a FDE and resident within one of 4 Australian centers (from latitudes 27°S to 43°S), from November 1, 2003, to December 31, 2006. Controls (n = 395) were matched to cases on age, sex, and study region, without CNS demyelination. Exposures measured included self-reported sun exposure by life stage, objective measures of skin phenotype and actinic damage, and vitamin D status. Results: Higher levels of past, recent, and accumulated leisure-time sun exposure were each associated with reduced risk of FDE, e.g., accumulated leisure-time sun exposure (age 6 years to current), adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.70 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53–0.94) for each ultraviolet (UV) dose increment of 1,000 kJ/m2 (range 508–6,397 kJ/m2). Higher actinic skin damage (AOR = 0.39 [95% CI 0.17–0.92], highest grade vs the lowest) and higher serum vitamin D status (AOR = 0.93 [95% CI 0.86–1.00] per 10 nmol/L increase in 25(OH)D) were independently associated with decreased FDE risk. Differences in leisure-time sun exposure, serum 25(OH)D level, and skin type additively accounted for a 32.4% increase in FDE incidence from the low to high latitude regions. Conclusions: Sun exposure and vitamin D status may have independent roles in the risk of CNS demyelination. Both will need to be evaluated in clinical trials for multiple sclerosis prevention.


This article explores some of the resonances that an audience with biblical and Christian sensibilities might experience through a viewing of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino (2008). The key criteria employed in Christfigure research, that is, those criteria that constructively centre on the New Testament metanarrative of crucifixion and resurrection, are applied to Gran Torino. Other resonances, which may strike viewers familiar with additional aspects of the Gospels, are presented, including the concept of an honorable death and leadership struggles. This article concludes that the character Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino is a Christ-figure, who embodies Jesus' self-sacrificial vision of life presented in such texts as John 10: 15 and 15: 13. This article is available in Journal of Religion & Film: http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol15/iss2/5


1 Arctic landscapes are characterized by extreme vegetation patchiness, often with sharply defined borders between very different vegetation types. This patchiness makes it difficult to predict landscape‐level C balance and its change in response to environment. 2 Here we develop a model of net CO2 flux by arctic landscapes that is independent of vegetation composition, using instead a measure of leaf area derived from NDVI (normalized‐difference vegetation index). 3 Using the light response of CO2 flux (net ecosystem exchange, NEE) measured in a wide range of vegetation in arctic Alaska and Sweden, we exercise the model using various data subsets for parameter estimation and tests of predictions. 4 Overall, the model consistently explains ~80% of the variance in NEE knowing only the estimated leaf area index (LAI), photosynthetically active photon flux density (PPFD) and air temperature. 5 Model parameters derived from measurements made in one site or vegetation type can be used to predict NEE in other sites or vegetation types with acceptable accuracy and precision. Further improvements in model prediction may come from incorporating an estimate of moss area in addition to LAI, and from using vegetation‐specific estimates of LAI. 6 The success of this model at predicting NEE independent of any information on species composition indicates a high level of convergence in canopy structure and function in the arctic landscape.


This study used randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers to determine genetic relationships among species of the subsection Dendrophlomis . Twenty accessions of the eleven Phlomis taxa were evaluated to determine genetic variability using fourteen ten mer primers selected from a 125 random oligonucleotide set. These 14 selected primers generated 85 RAPD bands that ranged in size from 200 to 1200 base pairs. Of the total bands, 88% (75) were polymorphic among the samples. Genetic distances among accessions were computed to produce a dendrogram based on UPGMA. Genetic distances ranged from 0.133 (between P. amanica and P. monocephala ) to 0.494 (between P. chimerae and P. lunariifolia ). The UPGMA tree based on distances has two major groups. The first comprised 9 taxa that were clustered into two subgroups. The first subgroup consisted of P. viscosa , P. lycia , P. amanica and P. monocephala while the second comprised P. lunariifolia , P. bourgaei , P. longifolia var. longifolia , P. grandiflora var. grandiflora and P. grandiflora var. fimbrilligera . The second group comprised 2 species, P. leucophracta and P. chimerae . Species-specific bands were observed for P. lycia , P. leucophracta , P. lunariifolia , P. bourgaei , P. chimerae and P. longifolia var longifolia .


This thesis investigates the design of domestic glazed spaces in the United Kingdom, by studying the effect of a range of variables on the thermal properties of glazed spaces, in order to achieve a thermally comfortable environment while minimising the use of energy for heating and cooling. Earlier research work on domestic glazed spaces has concentrated on optimising the design of the space as a mechanism for reducing the space heating load of the parent house. Computer based dynamic thermal simulation is used in this study as the method of assessment and the variables tested are; glazing type, orientation and the degree of integration of the glazed space with the parent building. Unshaded, unventilated, and unheated, glazed spaces were found to be thermally comfortable for only a quarter to a third of the hours of possible use whatever the form, orientation or glazing type. Generally the higher the insulating value of the glazing the fewer the number of comfortable hours for all orientations and arrangements, due to discomfort being caused by high temperatures, even though the weather data used for the simulations only rose above 27'C for 25 hours during the course of the year. Further studies showed that significant reductions in the number of hours experiencing high temperatures could be achieved by the use of buoyancy driven ventilation. The studies indicated that glazed spaces integrated into the house plan tended to experience high temperatures for long periods but that the peak temperatures were much lower than those experienced for shorter periods in the exposed spaces. The effect of ventilation on overheating was therefore more marked in the integral than in the exposed glazed spaces. A study of the effects of roof shading blinds indicated that internal blinds had minimal effect in reducing high temperatures. External blinds had a greater effect than ventilation and a combination of external roof blinds and ventilation appears to provide the best strategy for the control of high temperatures. Studies on space heating loads for the houses and glazed spaces indicated wide variations in the heating loads of the glazed spaces depending predominantly on the insulating properties of the glazing. In terms of the reduction in the space heating load for the parent house, the thermal simulation results predict very little change due to the presence of the glazed space. A study on the effect of increasing the thermal storage properties of the floor construction of the glazed spaces, by substituting a clay tile finish for the original thin carpet layer, in order to reduce high temperatures proved inconclusive with minimal changes in the number of comfortable hours experienced. An investigation of thermal comfort during the Winter indicated that low surface temperatures did not reduce resultant temperatures below the lower limit of the comfortable range in the glazed spaces, during the heated period.


The receptive skills are listening and reading because learners do not need to produce language to do these, they receive and understand it. These skills are sometimes known as passive skills. They can be contrasted with the productive or active skills of speaking and writing.  Often in the process of learning the new language, learners begin with the receptive understanding of the new items, then later move on to productive use. In the classroom, the relationship between receptive and productive skills is a complex one, with one set of skills naturally supporting another. For example, building reading skills can contribute to the development of writing.


Purpose: Prostate volume (PV) is a key predictor of both the progression and response to medical therapy in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been studied as a proxy marker for the estimation of the total PV in a predominantly Caucasian patient population. If the PV of Korean men is smaller than that of Caucasian men, the PSA-PV of Korean men may be different from those of the other races. The relationship between the PSA and PV was evaluated in Korean men. Materials and Methods: Patients with lower urinary tract symptoms and BPH, aged between 50 and 79 years, between 1999 and 2004, were enrolled in this multicentered study. IPSS, PSA, uroflowmetry and TRUS measurements were performed on all patients. Men with a PSA greater than 10ng/ml were excluded to reduce the likelihood of including occult prostate cancer cases. Those with suspicious findings on digital rectal examination and serum PSA were biopsied to rule out prostate cancer. Results: The analysis included 5,716 patients, with a mean age 64.3 years, and mean baseline PV and PSA of 36.9ml and 2.4ng/ml, respectively. The PV and serum PSA have an age-dependent log-linear relationship. Older men tend to have a steeper rate of increase in their PV with increasing serum PSA. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the ability of the serum PSA to predict the threshold of the PV in men with BPH. The ROC curve analysis revealed that the PSA had good predictive value for various PV cutoff points (30, 40 and 50ml). Conclusions: The PSA-PV relationship in Korean men was similar to that in Caucasians. However, Korean men have a lower PSA and smaller PV than Caucasians. Approximate age-specific criteria for detecting Korean men with PV exceeding 40ml are: PSA 1.3ng/ml, 1.7ng/ml and 2.0 ng/ml for men with BPH in their 50s, 60s and 70s, respectively.