UK Government policy currently places a strong emphasis on the reuse of brownfield land as part of its sustainable development and regeneration agendas, including the Sustainable Communities Plan. The Barker Review has also been important in the continuing debate for highlighting not only the chronic undersupply of new dwellings, but also in arguing that improvements in both the housebuilding industry and the planning system could deliver an increased supply of low cost, new homes. This has implications for the use and reuse of both brownfield and greenfield sites. Policy makers have therefore realised that fundamental change is needed, albeit within the context of (so far) relatively 'light touch' policies, working in conjunction with the market. The current development landscape therefore is a complex one, with a range of policy measures being debated, but with inherent uncertainty, tensions and conflicts still present. The question arises therefore, how are developers approaching brownfield and contaminated land issues today? Previous research has focused on the barriers surrounding brownfield reuse, but there has been little research that has focused on how the housebuilding industry interacts with other players or stakeholders, in terms of market dynamics at a national and regional level. This paper is based around the Stage 1 survey results (carried out in mid-2004) of commercial and residential developers of a two and half year EPSRC-funded project, based at The College of Estate Management in Reading. The paper briefly provides an overview to the brownfield issue in an international context, in terms of conceptual models of brownfield, and critically reviews the key literature relating to the housebuilding industry and brownfield land in the UK, highlighting recent UK government policy in relation to brownfield land. Commercial developers have a long history of developing on brownfield sites, but key results from the survey suggest that housebuilding on recycled land is no longer the preserve of specialists, and is now widespread throughout the industry. Attitudes towards developing on contaminated sites appear to have changed as developers have gained more experience of building on brownfield land. As a result, developers are personified by distinct 'cultures' and varying attitudes towards brownfield/contaminated land issues, in terms of risk perception, and remediation technology adoption. As the survey suggests, although brownfield redevelopment is becoming 'mainstream', the redevelopment of contaminated sites for residential use could, however, be threatened by the impact of the EU Landfill Directive. Its implementation was likely to dissuade over two-fifths of housebuilders in the survey (particularly the smaller operators) from undertaking development on land requiring remedial treatment. These findings and others covered in the paper have important ramifications for brownfield regeneration. This may also have consequences for increasing housing supply in the key growth areas targeted in the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan.


Introduction: Prenatal exposure to excess androgens, as environmental factors affecting the fetal epigenome, and also a potent agent for developing special phenotypes in adulthood, has been the subject of many studies during recent decades. Results of various molecular studies conducted in this area indicate that exposure to androgens, during certain periods of growth and development of the fetus, affects cellular processes, tissues and organ development leading to phenotype and behavior alterations, one of which is causing susceptibility to polycystic ovary syndrome in adulthood. Testosterone, the most important androgen, has interfering effects in metabolic and endocrine pathways, usually a result of epigenetic changes. In recognition of diverted pathways leading to the development of disease conditions and considering possible interventions at the molecular level in these directions, control of prenatal environment and conditions can be taken to account as the first and most important step in prevention of related diseases. This article reviews the studies on the epigenetic and gene expression changes of various biological pathways as a result of this exposure, using the polycystic ovarian syndrome as an appropriate model to illustrate this exposure.


This article analyzes two major circuit splits that have developed in the wake of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988). In Hazelwood, the Supreme Court upheld a high school principal's censorship of a student newspaper produced in a journalism class, holding that school restrictions of student speech in school-sponsored settings are permissible as long as the restrictions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. Since then, Hazelwood has been invoked not only in a broad range of student speech contexts, but also in cases involving teachers' classroom speech, curricular and textbook selections, and the speech of outside entities in the school setting. The circuits, in turn, have divided over (1) how broadly Hazelwood should extend and (2) whether Hazelwood permits viewpoint-based speech restrictions, which are generally prohibited under the First Amendment. Each of these splits has generated much discussion by courts and commentators. But the two splits are rarely considered in tandem. In this article, I argue that the two circuit splits are actually connected in a crucial way: Hazelwood's over-extension has unnecessarily muddled the viewpoint discrimination question. After tracing the two evolving circuit splits and the relationship between them, I discuss why Hazelwood is uniquely suited to student speech cases, and why other existing legal frameworks are better equipped to handle the remaining school speech categories to which Hazelwood has been applied. I further argue that returning to Hazelwood's origins as a student speech case helps to clarify the viewpoint discrimination issue. In this vein, I propose a new sliding-scale framework for evaluating schools' viewpoint-based restrictions of student speech.


United States is experiencing increasing interests in fermentation and anaerobic digestion processes for the production of biofuels. A simple methodology of spatial biomass assessment is presented in this paper to evaluate biofuel production and support the first decisions about the conversion technology applications. The methodology was applied to evaluate the potential biogas and ethanol production from biomass in California and Washington states. Solid waste databases were filtered to a short list of digestible and fermentable wastes in both states. Maximum methane and ethanol production rates were estimated from biochemical and ultimate analysis of each waste and projected on a GIS database. Accordingly, the optimal locations for methane and ethanol production plants were approximately determined. The available net power for transportation and electricity generation was evaluated considering three process efficiency factors in the waste to power life cycle. The net power from methane and ethanol would ultimately cover ~ 6 8% of the transportation needs for motor gasoline or cover ~ 3 4% of the electrical power consumption in each state.


Summer rainfall seldom occurs in the south-west of Western Australia. Flora of the region has evolved under a Mediterranean climate having hot dry summers with rare thunder storms, and cool wet winters. The consequence of high summer rainfall is significant because the resulting conditions can favour an outbreak of the introduced soil pathogen, Phytophthora cinnamomi, to which many plant species in the south-west forests are susceptible.

A glasshouse experiment compared the response of drought stressed and non-stressed Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) plants when inoculated with P. cinnamomi after a simulated summer rainfall event. Clonal plants, resistant or susceptible to P. cinnamomi, were tested. The moisture content of the container substrate for inoculated and non-inoculated plants was either kept at container capacity or at a pre-determined level just above that of the wilting point of each plant for 3 weeks. Sudden restoration to container capacity simulated summer rainfall and plants were inoculated immediately. Higher proportions of non-stressed clonal plants, both resistant and susceptible, became infected and were more extensively colonized by the pathogen than plants subjected to drought Results supported our hypothesis : tissue of drought affected E. marginata plants is less susceptible to infection by P. cinnamomi than tissue of plants which have recently experienced no water deficit.


Molecular recognition is essential to all biological interactions and processes. Knowledge of the structural basis of recognition offers a powerful mechanism for understanding, predicting and controlling the behaviour of biological systems. In this thesis, we present, firstly a computational and crystallographic analysis of molecular recognition in protein-ligand systems; and secondly, progress towards the synthesis of a fluorescent probe for calcium ion recognition.Class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks), in particular PI3K?, have long been considered promising drug targets for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. As a step towards improved understanding of PI3K binding preferences, we examine the basis on which PI3K? distinguishes ?-selective inhibitors AS-605240 and AS-604850, with a ~30-fold preference for the former. Interestingly, despite the chemical similarity of the two ligands, the X-ray structures for their PI3K? complexes exhibit the molecules in different conformers, s-cis for AS-604850 and s-trans for AS-605240. Here, we re-examine the PI3K?/AS-605240 crystallographic data and find that not only is a s-cis conformation possible but in fact it has a much higher occupancy (87%) than the originally modelled s-trans isomer (13%). Subsequently, to account for the isomeric complexities presented by the ligands, we perform 140 ns MD simulations of the four PI3K? complexes in explicit solvent: this reveals similar conformational flexibility at the active site for all systems. Yet, the conformations sampled by the s-cis isomers are more consistent with the conformations reported by the X-ray crystal structures. Subsequent energetic analysis was performed incorporating ensemble-averaging and desolvation effects via the Poisson-Boltzmann continuum solvent model. For both inhibitors the s-cis isomers are predicted to be the most favourable conformations. Additionally, the results indicate a preference for AS-605240, as observed experimentally. The molecular basis for this preference is discussed, together with a comparison of molecular mechanical and quantum chemical treatments of the key ligand-Val882 interaction. This study provides structural, dynamical and energetic insights into the subtle basis of molecular recognition by PI3K?.Fluorescent probes have evolved into an extremely useful tool for the detection of calcium in biological systems. Benzothiazole derivatives BTC, and its iminocoumarin analogue BTIC, are two low affinity calcium indicators featuring many desirable properties for cellular calcium measurement. In an effort to produce fluorophores that can be chemically conjugated with a screening protein, such as Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), we aimed to derivatise BTC and BTIC. Two synthetic approaches towards the synthesis of these potential fluorescent probes are outlined.


New year's greetings to all members of the Korean Society of Medical Education. Best wishes for your perfect health and continued success in your academic career.

The Korean Society of Medical Education was founded in May 1983, and started its major academic activities in 1989. This organization aims at development of Korean medical education by evaluating medical education systems as well as its goals, contents and methods, and disseminating the knowledge of systematic and scientific research results on all related domains. Beginning with the first conference launched in March 1989, the 31st conference was hosted last year. Ever since the first edition of Korean Journal of Medical Education was published in June 1989, there has been a great effort made to globalize our medical journal.

Finally, in May 2015, our medical journal became included in MEDLINE and it was a milestone that enhanced our standing. It is truly a significant and pleasant event and we would like to give you warm applause for your devotions for the development of the Korean Journal of Medical Education. Also we would like to appreciate our editors who made continuous efforts to advance the journal to the level of global standard. Aside from the successful inclusion in MEDLINE, the Korean Society of Medical Education will further strive to be included in SCI. In an attempt to achieve this goal, we created a board member and reviewers with international professionals, shortened the evaluation process to promote English dissertations, and appointed copy editors to offer editing services in English. In addition, the editing committee regularly opens seminars on how to write or review English papers as well as awards successful applicants who submit highly qualified research papers in a yearly contest.

Dear members,

I believe that medical educators should contribute to the development of medical education through academic activities, actively engaging in conducting medical education researches, and writing dissertations. Please support us with highly valuable and qualified dissertations on medical education to enhance our journal of medical education. Until our journal is included in SCI, I will appreciate any feedback that can improve our academic conferences and journal.

Again, I hope all is going well around you.

Thank you.


The Royal Society of Chemistry NMR Discussion Group and Molecular Spectroscopy Group would like to invite you to the 2017 Spring Meeting, which will be held at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Stevenage. The theme for the meeting is "Low level detection and quantification by NMR" and different NMR technologies, including solution state NMR, solid state NMR and benchtop/low field NMR will be discussed. The presentations will cover a range of NMR related disciplines, including conventional low level detection and quantification, the use of cryoprobes, quantification of polymorphism using ssNMR and also methods for spectral simplification. Recent developments and applications of hyperpolarisation techniques, within both solution state and solid state NMR, will be presented in conjunction with the effect these sensitivity enhancements have with respect to quantification and limits of detection.


Multilabel classification is a challenging problem arising in applications ranging from information retrieval to image tagging. A popular approach to this problem is to employ a reduction to a suitable series of binary or multiclass problems (e.g., computing a softmax based cross-entropy over the relevant labels). While such methods have seen empirical success, less is understood about how well they approximate two fundamental performance measures: precision@$k$ and recall@$k$. In this paper, we study five commonly used reductions, including the one-versus-all reduction, a reduction to multiclass classification, and normalised versions of the same, wherein the contribution of each instance is normalised by the number of relevant labels. Our main result is a formal justification of each reduction: we explicate their underlying risks, and show they are each consistent with respect to either precision or recall. Further, we show that in general no reduction can be optimal for both measures. We empirically validate our results, demonstrating scenarios where normalised reductions yield recall gains over unnormalised counterparts.


Solving an ill-posed linear inverse problem requires knowledge about the underlying signal model. In many applications, this model is a priori unknown and has to be learned from data. However, it is impossible to learn the model using observations obtained via a single incomplete measurement operator, as there is no information about the signal model in the nullspace of the operator, resulting in a chicken-and-egg problem: to learn the model we need reconstructed signals, but to reconstruct the signals we need to know the model. Two ways to overcome this limitation are using multiple measurement operators or assuming that the signal model is invariant to a certain group action. In this paper, we present necessary and sufficient sensing conditions for learning the signal model from measurement data alone which only depend on the dimension of the model and the number of operators or properties of the group action that the model is invariant to. As our results are agnostic of the learning algorithm, they shed light into the fundamental limitations of learning from incomplete data and have implications in a wide range set of practical algorithms, such as dictionary learning, matrix completion and deep neural networks.


The networked and distributed systems research communities have an increasing need for "replayable" research, but our current experimentation resources fall short of satisfying this need. Replayable activities are those that can be re-executed, either as-is or in modified form, yielding new results that can be compared to previous ones. Replayability requires complete records of experiment processes and data, of course, but it also requires facilities that allow those processes to actually be examined, repeated, modified, and reused.

We are now evolving Emulab, our popular network testbed management system, to be the basis of a new experimentation workbench in support of realistic, largescale, replayable research. We have implemented a new model of testbed-based experiments that allows people to move forward and backward through their experimentation processes. Integrated tools help researchers manage their activities (both planned and unplanned), software artifacts, data, and analyses. We present the workbench, describe its implementation, and report how it has been used by early adopters. Our initial case studies highlight both the utility of the current workbench and additional usability challenges that must be addressed.


Retail image has received considerable attention in the academic literature in recent years, its influence on consumer behaviour demonstrated extensively in contexts such as stores, brands, shopping malls and tourist destinations. It is therefore surprising that the study of retail image in a town centre has been neglected. Town centres, since time immemorial existing as markets facilitating the exchange of goods, have throughout history been of significant importance to local and national economies. Yet academic interest in consumers choice of town centres, and particularly their image perceptions of these locations, has only been stimulated in response to competition from the development of purpose-built shopping malls. Research into town centres as distinct locations has been extremely limited.

The research reported in this thesis has studied town centre image as a specific retail location. In doing so, the research has also addressed a further limitation in the retail image literature. Researchers have pointed to the limited theoretical development in retail image studies, and particularly to the discrepancy between image conceptualisation and its operationalisation. Image is conceptualised as having both tangible qualities and an aura of psychological attributes (Martineau, 1958), but its measurement has focussed almost exclusively on its physical properties, ignoring the less tangible elements which it is hypothesised to contain.

As a consequence of adopting a theoretical approach to town centre image, this research has for the first time developed a model of town centre image which addresses both its tangible and intangible qualities, and which comprises three dimensions: functional, experiential and symbolic. The model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling based on a survey of 816 consumers in three town centres. Analysis of the results suggests that consumers perceive town centre image as a higher order construct consisting of these three dimensions, and that their image perceptions focus on top-level salient aspects of the retail provision, together with feelings, emotions, and subjective attitudes towards the town centre. It is suggested that this conceptualisation provides a more accurate measure of consumer perceptions of town centre image for future academic researchers and for practitioners, particularly as town centres are currently the focus of government policy to support their continuing preservation as important local and national economic drivers.


In this study the technical efficiency level of dairy farms in Greece is estimated by imposing weight restrictions on the conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The assurance region approach is applied on farm record and accounting data from 165 dairy farms. The numerical values of the weight bounds are determined by placing limits on the estimated output elasticities and on the factors' cost share of the total production cost. The imposition of bounds on the DEA weights provides more persuasive efficiency scores and alters the structure of the efficient farms, verifying the importance of placing weight restrictions when dealing with real-life applications.


There are a few thousands commercial aircrafts operating today. Many of those
aircrafts are considered old or aging and will experience damages whether little or
large. Damages in aircraft structures are classified as negligible a~d intolerable.
Since commercial aircrafts are constructed to be in Damage Tolerant Design (DTD),
negligible damage is not threatening and the aircraft can still operate under some
limitations. Intolerable damage however, should be repaired to prevent growth of the
damage and to maintain airworthiness of the aircraft. One of the damages that is
covered in this research is a crack damage and the repair on it. The damage location
in this research is on the skin next to the top hat stringer section on a stiffened panel.
The case study simulated the rear fuselage stiffened panel of a Boeing 737. Most
damage repair methods and procedures are prescribed in the Structural Repair
Manual (SRM). The SRM provides details procedures of repair using bolts and
rivets. The damage case in this research is not part of the SRM. Eyen though
extensive stress analysis has been done by the manufacturer before the repair
procedure is documented, however, there is no strength analysis reported in the
SRM. This research conducted a stress analysis on the structure before damaged,
after damaged, and after repaired conditions, in which riveted patch was used in one
case, and bonded patch in the other. Two methods of analyses were conducted
namely finite element analysis using ANSYS software, and experimental method
using strain gages and Universal Testing Machine. The stress distributions of all
conditions were compared between the finite element and the experimental methods.
In addition to the above, theoretical analysis was used to predict the static strength of
the structure all four conditions. The static strengths of all conditions were compared
between theoretical and experimental methods. It was expected that both repair
methods would restore the original strength of the structure. Based on the
comparison between FEA and experimental results, there were agreements on the
graph pattern. However, there were extreme values in the readings of the strain gages
near the jigs or load application points. This was mainly due to the $etting of the jigs
which produced local effect high stress area. Based on the static strength· analysis, it
was found that the riveted patch repair was weaker than the original condition by
15%. The bonded patch repair failed at more than 20% less than the original strength.
This was due to the limited resources of bonding repair facilities which made the
bonding process not properly done so that the patch· was not perfectly bonded to the
skin.


Agriculture is the backbone of Africa's economy. In spite of the increased significance of oil and gas sector, Nigeria largely remained an agrarian economy since a high percentage of the labour force continues to engage in agricultural production. The sector remains labour intensive as this is one of the reasons for downward trend in productivity. The study therefore aimed at examining the influence of distance on size of farmland and impact of land tenure system in Ikere agricultural region. The study involved identifying major routes leading to the city centre where three farmsteads were randomly sampled on the basis of distance using 0 – 3 km, 4 – 7 km, 8 – 11 km, for nearby, middle and distant farmlands. In all, 18 farmsteads were used for the purpose of the study and 180 farmers representing the sample size. Questions relating to the size of farmland, years of cropping, dominant crops and farming activities were sought for. A descriptive statistics was adopted to summarize the data. The study revealed that farming practices adopted is the popular bush burning in preparation of land and shifting cultivation after a short use to allow land to regain fertility. Also, both indigenous and migrant farmers engaged in production of food crops while indigenes are more involved in cash crop production. All the farmsteads produced the same type of crops at the same distance from the city centre while farmers have farm plots with an average of 4.5 plots. On the basis of the findings one recommends among other things the need to construct roads to link the city centre and the various farmsteads for easy commuting and evacuation of farm products. Farmers are to increase their outputs by adopting new farming techniques, and government should provide agricultural extension workers to advice farmers on modern farming techniques to increase agricultural products. Keywords: Agricultural pattern, food production, farming techniques, land use, Ikere.


OBJECTIVES
Regarding the environmental pollution, platinum group elements (PGE) are in the centre of interest of current research. These rare elements are used as effective substances in automotive catalysts to reduce pollution by emissions originating from fuel combustion. Due to their harmful potential, it is necessary to monitor their content and behaviour in different samples. Comprehensive studies on PGE behaviour and effects are still lacking. Their distribution in the food chain and data on bioaccumulation has not been described so far.

METHODS
We focused on reproductive effects of platinum (PtCl4), in particular. Our study is based on a collembolan laboratory breed, test optimalization and validation according to the OECD 232 standards [CSN ISO 11267 - Soil quality - Inhibition of reproduction of Collembola (Folsomia candida) by soil pollutants]. The concentrations of PtCl4 tested were as follows: 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 µM. The EC50 was determined after 28 days of testing.

RESULTS
The results were evaluated using the inhibition of reproduction compared with controls. The EC50 was determined after the 28-day test. The value of 28dEC50 of the boric acid test was estimated at 120 mg/kg and the measured 28dEC50 of PtCl4 was 200.4 µM.

CONCLUSION
The presented data can be considered as a step forward in the assessment of the potential risk of platinum in the terrestrial environment. However, more toxicity data for various species are needed to evaluate the environmental risk of platinum in soils.


[1] We examine the hygroscopic properties of particles freshly emitted from laboratory biomass burning experiments conducted during the second Fire Lab At Missoula Experiment (FLAME-II). Values of the hygroscopicity parameter, kappa, were derived from both hygroscopic growth measurements and size-resolved (30–300 nm in diameter) cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements for smokes emitted by the open combustion of 24 biomass fuels from the United States and Asia. To analyze the complex cloud condensation nuclei response curves we propose a new inversion scheme that corrects for multiple charge effects without the necessity of prior assumptions about the chemical composition and mixing state of the particles. Kappa varied between 0.02 (weakly hygroscopic) and 0.8 (highly hygroscopic). For individual smokes, kappa was a function of particle size, with 250 nm particles being generally weakly hygroscopic and sub-100 nm particles being more hygroscopic. At any given size the emissions were often externally mixed, showing more and less hygroscopic growth modes and bimodal CCN activation spectra. Comparisons between growth factor-derived and CCN-derived hygroscopicities were consistent when taking this heterogeneity into account. A conceptual model of biomass burning emissions suggests that most particles are CCN active at the point of emission and do not require conversion in the atmosphere to more hygroscopic compositions before they can participate in cloud formation and undergo wet deposition.


The performance of many silicon devices is limited by electronic recombination losses at the crystalline silicon c-Si surface. A proper surface passivation scheme is needed to allow minimizing these losses. The surface passivation properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon a-Si:H on monocrystalline Si wafers are investigated here. We introduce a simple model for the description of the surface recombination mechanism based on recombination through amphoteric defects, i.e. dangling bonds, already established for bulk a-Si:H. In this model, the injection-dependent recombination at the a-Si:H/c-Si interface is governed by the density and the average state of charge of the amphoteric recombination centers. We show that with our surface recombination model, we can discriminate between the respective contribution of the two main mechanisms leading to improved surface passivation, which is achieved by a the minimization of the density of recombination centers and b the strong reduction of the density of one carrier type near the interface by field effect. We can thereafter reproduce the behaviors experimentally observed for the dependence of the surface recombination on the injection level on different wafers, i.e., of both p and n doping type as well as intrinsic. Finally, we are able to exploit the good surface passivation properties of our a-Si:H layers by fabricating flat heterojunction solar cells with open-circuit voltages exceeding 700 mV.


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SA Fam Pract Jan/Feb 2006;48(1):55-57
Correspondence: Prof Helmuth Reuter, Director, Ukwanda, Faculty of Health Science,
Stellenbosch University. Tel: (021) 938 9014, Fax: (021) 931 4220, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
In this issue:
? Introduction to updAIDS in SAFP
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? Review: Clinical staging of HIV / AIDS in infants
and children
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Gathering evidence across disciplines is a strength of interdisciplinary fields like neuroethics. However, conclusions can only be made if the evidence applies to the issue at hand. Libet and colleagues' 1983 experiment is an interesting case study in this problem. Despite ongoing critiques about the methods used and the replicability of its findings, many people consider Libet and colleagues' methodology a valid strategy to investigate free will and related topics. We reviewed studies using methods similar to those of Libet and colleagues (N = 48) to identify its use and the evidence produced. Overall, we found substantial variation between studies. While the Libet paradigm may be useful for examining how stimuli affect temporal judgments, the link between this and free will or moral responsibility is not clear. Being aware and critical of the methods used to gather results is important when applying scientific experiments to complex, abstract phenomena.


Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous collection of conditions characterized by irreversible expiratory airflow limitation. The disease is interspersed with exacerbations; periods of acute symptomatic, physiological and functional deterioration. There are large differences in yearly exacerbation incidence rates between patients of similar COPD severity giving rise to the concept of two distinct phenotypes; frequent and infrequent exacerbators. This thesis hypothesizes that frequent exacerbators are a distinct phenotype of COPD, and identifies some of the factors that influence exacerbation frequency.
Method: 356 individuals from the London COPD cohort were included in the analyses in different subgroups. All patients completed daily diary cards and reported exacerbations to the study team for sampling and treatment. Blood and sputum were collected in the stable state and at exacerbation. Samples were processed for cytokines, genetic polymorphisms and viruses. A subset of patients also had endobronchial biopsies for epithelial cell work and immunohistochemistry.
Results: Patient reported exacerbation frequency can be used to accurately stratify patients into frequent and infrequent exacerbators groups in subsequent years. Frequent exacerbators were more depressed and more likely to be female then infrequent exacerbators. There was no difference in social contacts, HRV positivity or load in sputum, Vitamin D levels, or cytokine variability between frequent and infrequent exacerbators. No differences in genetic polymorphisms (ICAM-1, IL-6, IL-8, VDR, Taq1 α1 –antitrypsin) were identified between the two groups.
Conclusions: The frequent exacerbator phenotype exists. There is not one single determinant of exacerbation frequency, and determinants vary with underlying disease severity.


IGF-II is a mitogenic peptide that has been implicated in hepatocellular oncogenesis. Since the silencing of gene expression is frequently associated with cytosine methylation at cytosine-guanine (CpG) dinucleotides, we designed a methylated oligonucleotide (MON1) complementary to a region encompassing IGF2 promoter P4 in an attempt to induce DNA methylation at that locus and diminish IGF2 mRNA levels. MON1 specifically inhibited IGF2 mRNA accumulation in vitro, whereas an oligonucleotide (ON1) with the same sequence but with nonmethylated cytosines had no effect on IGF2 mRNA abundance. MON1 treatment led to the specific induction of de novo DNA methylation in the region of IGF2 promoter hP4. Cells from a human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line, Hep 3B, were implanted into the livers of nude mice, resulting in the growth of large tumors. Animals treated with MON1 had markedly prolonged survival as compared with those animals treated with saline or a truncated methylated oligonucleotide that did not alter IGF2 mRNA levels in vitro. This study demonstrates that a methylated sense oligonucleotide can be used to induce epigenetic changes in the IGF2 gene and that inhibition of IGF2 mRNA accumulation may lead to enhanced survival in a model of HCC.


Do the Indian students have the required traits in expected measures to pursue entrepreneurship as an alternative to their career? Is there any difference in the traits possessed by the students in comparison with the international averages? A Study of students of Manipal University, Karnataka, India was conducted using the General Entrepreneurial Tendency Test GETT) developed at Durham University by John and Caird to identify the entrepreneurial traits of the students. The purpose of the study is to explore the entrepreneurial traits of Indian University students and compare it with international averages. The study is also made to explore if there are any variation of traits amongst the gender, background or streams which the students are studying in. This paper helps in understanding whether the Indian students possess required traits which are necessary to enable them to consider Entrepreneurship as an option for their future goals. Secondly it helps to understand if the scores of the Indian students are deviating from the average scores in order to draw conclusions based on the same. The findings revealed that the scores for all the traits were below average. However, it also revealed that the female students are scoring higher in many of the traits as compared to male students. Future research using a wider sample is necessary to understand the entrepreneurial traits amongst various groups in order to develop different approaches to teaching entrepreneurship as well as capacity building of entrepreneurial students.


The paper deals with the Ottoman censuses (nufus defteri) conducted in 19th century as part of comprehensive reforms implemented in the Ottoman Empire at the time. Since the censuses related to the Bosnian eyalet also included first and last names of inhabitants, they serve as valuable sources of genealogical research. With that in mind, we investigated the censuses of two villages, Donji and Gornji Ljenobud in the kadiluk of Donja Tuzla in 1850/51. First and last names entered into the census were compared to the ones that still exist in those villages. The research shows that the censuses provide a high probability of identifying some of the current patronymic names in Donji and Gornji Ljenobud, thus opening a possibility of reconstruction of genealogy of individual families from 19th century to the present day.


Poor aircraft energy management can lead to unsafe and inefficient operations. Despite their impact on safety and economy, energy management skills are not adequately taught or evaluated in civilian pilot training. This paper 1) addresses the need for better energy management training, 2) provides a conceptual and pedagogical framework for later curriculum development, and 3) suggests key attributes of an effective training program. To make the case, the study uses energy management to link safety and efficiency. It then synthesizes energy principles across disciplines and illustrates how such principles, once simplified, become powerful instructional tools. Finally, it suggests that an integrated, energy-centered, top-down training approach will lead to a better mental model of how the airplane works and, in doing so, to enhanced energy management and decision-making skills for safe and efficient operations.


If restorative nostalgia concentrates on national past and future and reflective nostalgia on individual memory (Boym 2001), Lars Gustafsson's "Where the Alphabet Has Two Hundred Letters" does neither. This article argues that Gustafsson's treatment of the past landscape is metanostalgic, in the sense that nostalgia is a theme and a means, rather than a sentiment, and that the way his tropic reinvention deals with nostalgia differs from other uses. Though the poem partakes in the pastoral tradition, it is less concerned with this mode and more concerned with the notion of 'effect', of which Gustafsson has written extensively. Gustafsson has also elaborated on the aspects of 'centre' and 'periphery', notions that are used to define and extend the poetic landscape and the speaker's position in, and relation to, it. His poetic landscape encompasses the extremes of continents near and far, but also landscapes temporally removed, which may hold a different status in terms of their impact on 'effect', a status that is then not hinging on the obvious hierarchies of traditional nostalgia.


We discuss here one of our projects, aimed at developing an automatic facial expression interpreter, mainly in terms of signaled emotions. We present some of the relevant findings on facial expressions from cognitive science and psychology that can be understood by and be useful to researchers in Human-Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. We then give an overview of HCI applications involving automated facial expression recognition, we survey some of the latest progresses in this area reached by various approaches in computer vision, and we describe the design of our facial expression recognizer. We also give some background knowledge about our motivation for understanding facial expressions and we propose an architecture for a multimodal intelligent interface capable of recognizing and adapting to computer users? affective states. Finally, we discuss current interdisciplinary issues and research questions which will need to be addressed for further progress to be made in the promising area of computational facial expression recognition.


BACKGROUND Every year, as many as 31 million Americans sustain traumatic injuries, leaving survivors with risks of disabilities and health settings with staggering medical costs. Little is known on the societal burden of injuries in terms of medical and out-of-pocket expenditures. Therefore, we used a nationally representative sample to evaluate the association between injuries and health expenditures among a nationally representative US sample. METHODS This study used years 2006 to 2010 (Panels 11–14; n = 53,065) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Each panel was followed up for 2 years. Total expenditures included insurance payments and out-of-pocket costs. Two-part models were constructed to examine differences in annual medical expenditures between injured and noninjured populations controlling for confounding effects. RESULTS A total of 4,210 individuals (7.9%) reported injuries representing 21.5 million individuals. Injured individuals were more likely to be males, to be white, and to report higher medical expenditures in the second year than the reference population (p < 0.01). Adjusted analyses showed that reporting any injury was associated with $2,577 (95% confidence interval [CI], $2,049–$3,103) and $186 (95% CI, $142–$230) increase in total and out-of-pocket costs, respectively. While a moderate or severe injury was associated with $4,779 (95% CI, $3,947–$5,610) increase in the average of medical expenditures and $256 (95% CI, $190–$322) increase in out-of-pocket costs adjusting for covariates. Our adjusted national medical cost of injuries was estimated at $56 billion and out-of-pocket cost to be approximately $4 billion. CONCLUSION Injuries pose a substantial burden on medical expenditures in the United States. Investment in injury prevention can facilitate reducing medical expenditures and save resources. Prevention programs may use the out-of-pocket findings to highlight injury burden on individual's prosperity and thus facilitate engagement of the public in prevention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Economic and evaluation study, level III.


This paper present a decoupled architecture of processors with a memory hierarchy of only scratch-pad memories, and a main memory. The decoupled architecture also exploits the parallelism between address computation and processing the application data. The application code is split in two programs the first for computing the addresses of the data in the memory hierarchy and the second for processing the application data. The first program is executed by one of the decoupled processors called Access which uses compiler methods for placing data in the memory hierarchy. In parallel, the second program is executed by the other processor called Execute. The synchronization of the memory hierarchy and the Execute processor is achieved through simple handshake protocol. The Access processor requires strong communication with the memory hierarchy which strongly differentiates it from traditional uniprocessors. The architecture is compared in performance with the MIPS IV architecture of SimpleScalar and with the existing decoupled architectures showing its higher normalized performance. Experimental results show that the performance is increased up to 3.7 times. Compared with MIPS IV the proposed architecture achieves the above performance with insignificant overheads in terms of area


This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of sugarcane straw on plants emergence and some characteristics of initial growth of peanut plants in boxes with soil as substrate. The treatments constituted by straw quantities of: 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 t ha-1 and the five cultivars tested were IAC 213, IAC 503, IAC 505, IAC 886 and IAC Tatu ST. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design, in a factorial arrangement of 6 x 5 with four replications. At 30 days after sowing were evaluated chlorophyll content, height, emergence of plants, number of leaves, total foliar area, foliar area per plant, leaf, stem, aerial part total and per plant dry mass. Data obtained were submitted to F in variance analysis test and means were compared with Tukey at p>0.05. The same data were padronized and analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis utilizing as the similarity coefficient the simple Euclidian distance and as linkage method the Ward Method. The straw did not affect the cultivars growth studied and the straight cultivar IAC Tatu ST had the major initial growth if compared to the other.


Carotid intima media thickness (IMT) is a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis that can predict cardiovascular events over traditional risk factors. This thesis focused on a chromosome 16 locus associated with IMT and coronary artery disease, in order to identify functional variation affecting protein structure or gene expression, and investigate the role of novel genes in atherosclerosis. Bioinformatics tools were used to identify variants in strong LD with the lead SNP and to filter these to a shortlist of potential regulatory variants. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays on these 6 SNPs detected allele-specific protein binding to the lead SNP rs4888378 in CFDP1, and implicated the protein FOXA. Luciferase reporter assays showed a 35-92% decrease in gene expression with the A allele. Expression-QTL analysis confirmed associations of the protective allele of rs4888378 with higher expression of BCAR1 in vascular tissues. Genotyping and analysis of the lead SNP in the PLIC cohort of 2144 healthy men and women suggested a sex-specific effect of the SNP on IMT progression. Meta-analysis of five cohort studies supported a protective effect of the A allele on common-carotid IMT in women only. As illustrated by this locus, functional variation often lies in enhancers far from its target promoter. Circular chromosome conformation capture (4C) was explored to investigate interactions between enhancers and promoters at this locus, with the aim of capturing regions interacting with rs4888378 and the BCAR1 promoter. Analysis of exome sequencing data identified a SNP in BCAR1 (coding amino acid change P76S), which was genotyped in two cohorts (IMPROVE and PLIC). Associations with lower plaque and IMT were found (wild-type proline form), but differed between the cohorts and require further validation. Wild-type and variant vectors were expressed in cells to assess the variant's effect on protein function and pathways involved in plaque, showing cells with wild-type protein to migrate more quickly. These analyses on regulatory and protein-coding mechanisms implicate BCAR1 in atherosclerosis and provide new pathways for analysis in the understanding of cardiovascular disease.


The main design criteria for the modern sustainable development of vehicle powertrains are the high energy efficiency of the conversion system, the competitive cost and the lowest possible environmental impacts. The need for efficiency improvement of the vehicle energy system induces the search for an innovative methodology during the design process. In this article the energy services for mobility and comfort are integrated. The energy integration of the mobility and the comfort service is applied through an innovative methodology combining process integration techniques. The methodology is applied on the energy integration study of a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain with the vehicle cabin. The energy balance of the internal combustion engine is done and discussed, according to the operating points. The energy requirement for comfort in the cabin is also determined, according to the seasonal requirement for heating or cooling. Work cycles for heat recovery are described and investigated. The minimum energy requirement is determined for different mobility and comfort situations. The energy recovery potential of a single stage Rankine Cycle for a diesel engine in combination with a hybrid electric powertrain is assessed. The Rankine Cycle circuit and equipment are simultaneously pre- sized.


Based on the empirical data obtained from two typical 10-kV power networks, the transmission properties of the 10-kV power line channel are investigated using the transmission line model. The frequency range is over 40 kHz-1.5 MHz. Our results show: 1) the power attenuation through the channel is about 20-25 dB/km when the channel does not have a branch and 2) the channel is time dispersed. In the frequency domain, the amplitude response is frequency selective while the phase response is linear. In the time domain, the impulse response shows a delay spread. The rms delay spread and the coherence bandwidth are in correlation with the network structure, and the corresponding values are on the order of 10 mus and 10 kHz. 3) The narrow fading of the channel follows Nakagami-m distribution. The channel is varying weakly with respect to time. When the data rate is up to kbps, the channel can be regarded as time invariant.


Productivity measures are indicators of success, by which the performance of any
individual finance company as well as the industry can be gauged. There have been
rapid changes in financial industry structure occurring around the world since 19701s.
In Asia, countries are restructuring banking regulations and encouraging financial
liberalization, in an attempt to increase financial industry efficiency. The financial
industry has also undergone multiple growth in new products and facilities in recent
years as a result of advances in technology and telecommunications. These
developments would have an impact on the competitiveness and hence on the
performances of any financial institutions, particularly the Malaysian finance
companies. The aim of this study is to investigate the productivity growth amongst the finance
companies in Malaysia from 1988 to 1996. In this context, the study attempts to
evaluate the technical efficiency, efficiency change, technical change and
productivity of finance companies using the Malmquist index approach and Data
Envelopment Analysis. The study of this kind is particularly important to the
producers, depositors or customers, investors as well as legislators.
The results indicate that during the period of this study, there is an improvement in
productivity of Malaysian finance companies. The productivity growth is mainly
associated with the technical change effect rather then technical efficiency change. It
also appears that the trend rate of productivity growth accelerated significantly after
1991, following the earlier recession. The results support the Central Bank's call for
the financial consolidation of the finance companies.


A large variety of severe medical conditions involve alterations in microvascular circulation. Hence, measurements or simulation of circulation and perfusion has considerable clinical value and can be used for diagnostics, evaluation of treatment efficacy, and for surgical planning. However, the accuracy of traditional tracer kinetic one-compartment models is limited due to scale dependency. As a remedy, we propose a scale invariant mathematical framework for simulating whole brain perfusion. The suggested framework is based on a segmentation of anatomical geometry down to imaging voxel resolution. Large vessels in the arterial and venous network are identified from time-of-flight (ToF) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). Macro-scale flow in the large-vessel-network is accurately modelled using the Hagen-Poiseuille equation, whereas capillary flow is treated as two-compartment porous media flow. Macro-scale flow is coupled with micro-scale flow by a spatially distributing support function in the terminal endings. Perfusion is defined as the transition of fluid from the arterial to the venous compartment. We demonstrate a whole brain simulation of tracer propagation on a realistic geometric model of the human brain, where the model comprises distinct areas of grey and white matter, as well as large vessels in the arterial and venous vascular network. Our proposed framework is an accurate and viable alternative to traditional compartment models, with high relevance for simulation of brain perfusion and also for restoration of field parameters in clinical brain perfusion applications.


The aim of this research is to understand the failure modes and mechanisms of adhesive materials used to flip-chip bond a silicon die onto a polyimide substrate. The bonding material investigated in this research is called Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF). This is a promising interconnection material and has gained extensive interest in the electronics packaging industry.

Both the experimental and finite element analysis (FEA) methods were used in order to investigate the behaviour of the ACF materials when subjected to certain manufacturing and environmental testing conditions. The manufacturing condition investigated was a subsequent solder reflow process on an ACF flip-chip bonded device. The environmental testing condition investigated was the moisture test.

For the manufacturing condition, both experimental and modelling results demonstrate the impact of a subsequent reflow process on the behaviour of the ACF joint. Typical failures observed after this process were cracks at the pad/particle interface. This failure mode was more sever with a higher peak reflow temperature. This was also found using FEA where high tensile stresses were predicted in these regions. FEA modelling was also used to help identify the mechanisms leading to these failures. This is primarily due to the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) miss-match in the materials and the elastic/plastic deformation behaviour of the conductive particle. Important design variables that can minimise these failures are the Young's Modulus and CTE of the adhesive and the height of the hump on the die.

For the environmental testing condition, an autoclave test at 121°C, 100%RH and pressure of 2atm was used. More than 85% of the ACF joints failed during the first 24 hours of testing. The failure mode observed was cracking along the interface between the adhesive and substrate and pad. A macro-micro modelling approach was used to help identify the mechanisms leading to these failures. It was found that most of the damage is caused by moisture diffusion and associated swelling. Important design variables that will help minimise this mode of failure are: Coefficient of Moisture Expansion (CME) and Young's Modulus of the adhesive and the height of the bump on the die.


Introduction: Studies have shown that fasting can have an impact on the course and severity of chronic diseases. There are a few studies on the association of fasting and asthma. Therefore, this study has been conducted with the purpose of examining the effects of fasting on asthma severity and pulmonary functioning tests. Methods: 30 patients with asthma who attended a pulmonology clinic in Qom were enrolled in this study. The severity of patients' asthma has been studied by questionnaire and spirometry of pulmonary functioning in the month of Shaban, Ramadan and Shawwal. The results of Asthma Control Questionnaire and the pulmonary functioning tests in three months have been compared. Findings : The average age of patients was 43.42 years and 43.3% of patients were males. The Average score for asthma severity questionnaire in three months were 20.4, 21 and 20.17 respectively. Statistically, there haven't been any significant differences between the results of pulmonary functioning test and asthma severity before Ramadan (Shaban), during Ramadan and after that (Shawwal). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that fasting in patients with asthma has no effect on pulmonary functioning and asthma severity.


Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold great promise for therapeutic application in non-healing ulcers and tissue regeneration because of their multi-lineage differentiation potential. MSCs delivered may migrate to the sites of injury and improve wound healing by stimulating angiogenesis and promoting revascularization. The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing worldwide. It is associated with peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD), which predispose patients to develop non-healing foot ulcers following minor trauma. A high rate of amputation exists among diabetic patients due to non-healing foot ulcers, which are a significant burden for the society despite new therapeutic protocols developed. In recent years, stem cell transplantation has been considered as a new therapeutic option for diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). The regeneration potential of MSCs has been demonstrated in the experimental and clinical trials. Here we review the potential efficacy and systematic use of MSCs for the treatment of non-healing DFUs, current advances, MSC delivery systems, and possible options to enhance the therapeutic potential of stem cell for wound healing.


Amplitude modulated continuous wave (AMCW) lidar systems commonly suffer from non-linear phase and amplitude responses due to a number of known factors such as aliasing and multipath inteference. In order to produce useful range and intensity information it is necessary to remove these perturbations from the measurements. We review the known causes of non-linearity, namely aliasing, temporal variation in correlation waveform shape and mixed pixels/multipath inteference. We also introduce other sources of non-linearity, including crosstalk, modulation waveform envelope decay and non-circularly symmetric noise statistics, that have been ignored in the literature. An experimental study is conducted to evaluate techniques for mitigation of non-linearity, and it is found that harmonic cancellation provides a significant improvement in phase and amplitude linearity.


Among the many manuscripts at the Freer Gallery of Art is a lavishly illuminated copy of the Gulistan of Sa'di (F1998.5). This manuscript was transcribed in an elegant nasta'liq script by renowned calligrapher Sultan 'Ali Mashhadi in Herāt (present-day Afghanistan) in 1468, but much of its history is unknown. The text includes six paintings that were added in the seventeenth century during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in India. Stains on the versos of the painted pages provide tantalizing traces of the existence of earlier illustrations underneath the Mughal ones. A technical study incorporating infrared and ultraviolet imaging, X-ray computed radiography, and targeted pigment analyses has revealed new information about these preexisting paintings. The size of the figures and the intermediate changes to the compositions suggest there were several working phases for the manuscript. A revised chronology now includes these phases and further enriches our understanding of this complex manuscript. From a technical standpoint, this research highlights both the challenges and undeniable potential of imaging technology for the study of Islamic manuscript paintings, many of which have been reworked at various times in their history.


This paper examines the link between trade protection and industry wage premia in India using a unique dataset combining employment survey data with industry-level data for various years between 1983 and 2000. The author finds that India's trade reforms were not distributionally neutral. The impact of protection on industry wage premia was positive and statistically significant, though modest in magnitude: workers employed in industries with high tariffs received higher wages than apparently identical workers in low-tariff industries. Because industries with high initial levels of protection were also those with the largest tariff reductions during this period and had the highest share of unskilled workers, the positive tariff-wage effect implies that the trade reforms were likely to have increased wage inequality as the relative wages of the (predominantly unskilled) workers in these manufacturing industries fell.


There are increasing concerns regarding inequities in access to health care, and hence calls for routine data collection to improve monitoring. For many developing countries, such as Bangladesh, increasing the availability and uptake of emergency obstetric care (EmOC) is vital in improving maternal health. It is crucial, however, that women of all socio-economic status benefit from this. This paper describes the development and validation of a proxy wealth index for assessing women's socio-economic status in Bangladesh as they are admitted to hospital. Existing poverty assessment tools are unsuitable for use in this context as they are too lengthy or need to be administered at household or community level. We sought to develop a tool with a limited number of indicators to allow quick administration and avoid interference with treatment. We also aimed to develop a pragmatic tool to be able to calculate a score in the field. The steps, involving selecting and weighting indicators, assigning a proxy wealth score and validating the score, are outlined. Indicators were selected from the Bangladeshi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data, which allowed comparison of socio-economic status between women using EmOC and those in the wider population. The tool proved quick and easy to use and was acceptable to women and their families. The validity of the tool was established by means of factor analysis. Our comparison with DHS data suggested that women using EmOC were significantly wealthier than women in the wider population. The implications of this, as well as the strengths and limitations of the proxy wealth index, are discussed. The proxy wealth index offers potential as a pragmatic and quick means of assessing poverty status in a busy hospital setting. Such a tool may enable monitoring of equity in access to treatment and identification of those least able to afford treatment, to enable any mechanisms in place to pay for care to be applied in a timely fashion, so avoiding delays in treating life-threatening complications.


The behavior of turbulent buoyant jets in uniform density environments is found to be governed by an entrainment function and buoyancy function, both of which are functions of the local jet densimetric Froude number and the local jet spreading angle. For plumes, Batchelor's analysis is used to show that the local Froude number and jet angle are constant. These two facts are then used to show that the buoyancy and entrainment functions in plumes are also constant and that their values can be deduced from an experimental velocity profile alone. Experimental results are also used to show that the axisymmetric buoyant jet is virtually independent of elevation and this result leads to the conclusion that the entrainment function is linearly dependent on the inverse of the local jet Froude number, thus confirming the result obtained by Priestly and Ball (1955). The buoyancy function is found to be constant with the value 1.16 for axisymmetric buoyant jets.


The competition between the socialist/Communist social system and the capitalist social system elicited a need for secrecy. This ideological battle took place during the Cold War, which is conceptually defined as "the unarmed development of a competition between antagonistic social systems" where the goal is to "suppress" or "liquidate" the competition. This organized secrecy played a part in structuring life within each of these systems. The secret collections in Romanian libraries consisting of banned books contributed directly to this secrecy. Library secret fonds were used to control the circulation of information within a system or throughout other systems. These prohibited materials were withdrawn from circulation and kept confidential. Libraries kept lists of these fonds separate from the regular collection, and these lists were kept and updated throughout the years. During the Communist regime in Romania, the lists of forbidden books were considered "an efficient instrument for the political struggles from the inside of the Communist party." Library secret fonds are a symbol of the antagonism between the two political systems of the Cold War.


Additional countries have turned to federalism in recent years in many world regions, but in Latin America the set of countries with federal institutions has not changed in more than a century. Despite this stasis, a spate of reforms have otherwise strengthened subnational governments across the region. In this short essay, I point to a number of dimensions along which Latin America's federations have become more truly federal while its unitary systems have become less genuinely unitary. As a result, Latin America has become more important than ever as a region in which to ask what difference federalism makes. Federalism vs. Decentralization in Latin America | 2


Geoffrey Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe has occasioned varied responses from readers and scholars. John Lydgate's reference, in the Fall of Princes, identified what became the critical terms for reading Chaucer's translation of an instruction manual for using an astrolabe addressed to his "sone" Lowys. Astrolabe survives in more manuscripts than any other Chaucer text with the exception of The Canterbury Tales; the Variorum edition of the text was published in 2002 and in the last five years critical attention has increasingly refocused on the text. Scholars have considered patterns of readership from extant manuscripts and details, such as the subheading "Brede and Milke for Children," have reshaped critical analyses. Astrolabe's language and pedagogical strategies have also been reconceptualized in recent readings. The nature of "science" in the late fourteenth century has always been part of Astrolabe's critical frame but the cultural valency of astrology has moved into sharper focus producing a more sophisticated analysis of the vernacular context of Chaucer's only scientific prose text.


BACKGROUND
Surgical site infection remains a concern in orthopedic surgery, and contamination of C-arm covers is a potentially modifiable risk factor.

METHODS
A single-cohort study was conducted using 30 consecutive patients undergoing operative fracture fixation. Cultures were obtained from the C-arm cover after initial draping and every 20 min thereafter. The total number of persons in the operating room (person-hours/h of study time) and the number of door openings were recorded. The C-arm position changes and the time to contamination were monitored.

RESULTS
The median time from the start of the operation to contamination was 20 min. There was a 17% contamination rate on initial draping, 50% at 20 min, 57% at 40 min, and 80% by 80 min. The C-arms in five cases were not contaminated during the surgery. Time to contamination correlated significantly with lateral position changes (correlation [r]=0.64; p=0.003) but was not related to C-arm position changes (r=0.22; p=0.34), number of door openings (r=0.20; p=0.39), or person-hours/h (r=0.04; p=0.85).

CONCLUSIONS
Contamination of the C-arm drape occurs often and early during surgery for orthopedic fractures. We recommend minimal contact with the C-arm to avoid contamination of the surgical field.


Convolutional sparse coding (CSC) has gained attention for its successful role as a reconstruction and a classification tool in the computer vision and machine learning community. Current CSC methods can only reconstruct singlefeature 2D images independently. However, learning multidimensional dictionaries and sparse codes for the reconstruction of multi-dimensional data is very important, as it examines correlations among all the data jointly. This provides more capacity for the learned dictionaries to better reconstruct data. In this paper, we propose a generic and novel formulation for the CSC problem that can handle an arbitrary order tensor of data. Backed with experimental results, our proposed formulation can not only tackle applications that are not possible with standard CSC solvers, including colored video reconstruction (5D- tensors), but it also performs favorably in reconstruction with much fewer parameters as compared to naive extensions of standard CSC to multiple features/channels.


All learners, including those who qualify for special education services, should have access to learning mathematical concepts. This study examined the efficacy of using hands-on sets of materials to teach two high school students with mental retardation the four situations for subtraction. This is a mixed methods study using a simple pretest-posttest design to determine correct interpretation of subtraction story problems for different situations (take-away, comparison, completion, and whole-part-part) and correct regrouping during dynamic subtraction. Eight story problems were presented to the two participants eight weeks prior to instruction; students answered an identical posttest after twelve half-hour lessons on subtraction story problems and regrouping, which occurred during a two-and-a-half week period. Qualitative teacher observations of the two students were used to triangulate the data. On the pretest, students scored poorly, with one student completing none of the eight items correctly and the other completing three. The non-take-away subtraction situations confused the students and they made many regrouping errors during dynamic subtraction. On the posttest, both students solved all the problems correctly. Teacher observations indicated that students found the hands-on materials engaging and motivating, using the manipulatives to help them during regrouping. The materials and method of teaching were effective for the following reasons: the sets of objects suited the concrete developmental stage of the students; a variety of colorful and exciting materials were used to pique and sustain student interest; the teacher modeled and verbally explained how to solve the problems using the hands-on materials; the teacher encouraged interaction and elicited students explanations; and students were moved from the concrete manipulatives to the more abstract nature of word problems. The authors recommend that these materials not only be used with primary grade students to teach subtraction situations, but with other students with special needs (19 references; 2 tables, one containing photographs of materials and the other showing the pretest/posttest questions).


The purpose of the paper is to present the field data relational database, which was compiled from data, gathered during thirty years of fieldwork on the Basic Geologic Map of Slovenia in scale1:100.000. The database was created using MS Access software. The MS Access environment ensures its stability and effective operation despite changing, searching, and updating the data. It also enables faster and easier user-friendly access to the field data. Last but not least, in the long-term, with the data transferred into the GIS environment, it will provide the basis for the sound geologic information system that will satisfy a broad spectrum of geologists' needs.


The aim of present study was to report spontaneous Encephalitozoon cuniculi (E. cuniculi) infection in rabbits and Encephalitozoon intestinalis (E. intestinalis) infection in cattle in Mosul city Iraq. Fecal samples were collected randomly from 142 rabbits and 115 cattle during the period from June, 2012 to June, 2013. Thin smears were prepared from the fecal samples and stained with different fecal stains, as well as the indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique. Infected rabbits were necropsied and pathology of the infection was described. The result showed that microsporidiosis was detected in 41 (26.9%) rabbits and in 12 (10.4%) cattle. E. cuniculi spores were identified in 31 out of the 41 rabbits (73.2%) and E. intestinalis in 7 out of the 12 cattle (58.3%). Infected rabbits showed vasculitis and granulomatous encephalitis, chronic interstitial nephritis, granulomatous hepatitis and cholangitis, vasculitis and non – suppurative pneumonia, infiltration of mononuclear cells in most layers of the intestines, and hyperplasia of lymphoid tissues. E. cuniculispores were seen in the liver, kidneys and lungs. This study considered the first one that reportmicrosporidiosis (E. cuniculi, E. intestinalis) in Mosul city Iraq.


Over-grazing by herbivores can simplify the structure, composition and function of vegetation communities by reducing vegetation cover and diversity, increasing soil degradation and driving biodiversity loss. European colonisation has created ideal conditions for the eastern grey kangaroo in south-eastern Australia, thanks to dingo eradication, new permanent watering points, protection from hunting and increased pasture availability. Consequently, in some areas, kangaroo population densities have risen to levels where impacts on other native species are occurring. At high densities, kangaroo grazing can: (1) reduce the occurrence, height and seeding rates of some native grasses; (2) reduce the diversity and cover of native shrubs following fire; (3) reduce the abundance and diversity of beetles; (4) reduce the overall abundance and diversity of reptiles; (5) reduce the quality of habitat for some species of legless lizards and the three-toe earless skink; (6) reduce the occurrence of the vulnerable striped legless lizard; (7) reduce the quality of habitat for many species of bird; and (8) reduce the quality of habitat for endangered eastern barred bandicoots, threatening a reintroduction program. In particular, the striped legless lizard appears very sensitive to high grazing. One recent study suggested that detection of this species more than halved with each doubling of kangaroo density. The impacts of high density kangaroo grazing on biodiversity in Australia are consistent with studies on native herbivores overseas, where predation and hunting that regulated herbivore density have diminished. Managing grazing pressure is often required to prevent biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.


The BioMart Community Portal (www.biomart.org) is a community-driven effort to provide a unified interface to biomedical databases that are distributed worldwide. The portal provides access to numerous database projects supported by 30 scientific organizations. It includes over 800 different biological datasets spanning genomics, proteomics, model organisms, cancer data, ontology information and more. All resources available through the portal are independently administered and funded by their host organizations. The BioMart data federation technology provides a unified interface to all the available data. The latest version of the portal comes with many new databases that have been created by our ever-growing community. It also comes with better support and extensibility for data analysis and visualization tools. A new addition to our toolbox, the enrichment analysis tool is now accessible through graphical and web service interface. The BioMart community portal averages over one million requests per day. Building on this level of service and the wealth of information that has become available, the BioMart Community Portal has introduced a new, more scalable and cheaper alternative to the large data stores maintained by specialized organizations.


Wikis have attracted attention as a powerful technological platform on which to harness the potential benefits of collective knowledge. Current literature identifies different behavioral factors that modulate the interaction between contributors and wikis. Some inhibit growth while others enhance it. However, while these individual factors have been identified in the literature, their collective effects have not yet been identified. In this paper, we use the system dynamics methodology, and a survey of Wikipedia users, to propose a holistic model of the interaction among different factors and their collective impact on Wikipedia growth. The model is simulated to examine its ability to replicate observed growth patterns of Wikipedia metrics. Results indicate that the model is a reasonable starting point for understanding observed Wiki growth patterns. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt in the literature to synthesize a holistic model of the forces underlying Wiki growth.


: The gathering, analysis and evaluation of heterogeneous data, derived from the interaction of users with a myriad of different technologies and proposed solutions are critical to the Design Process for the User Experience (UXD). Hence, it is important to have a clear picture of the initial design of the interdisciplinary teams involved in the process through common and collaborative semantics, as well as a better use of the data collected from users' assessments. Based on it, this article presents theoretical and practical support, corresponding to the DAfetU systemic modelling, a hybrid conceptual framework, structured by the existing triad in experiential contexts, aiming to gain cooperation among interdisciplinary teams to retrofit the UXD while reaping the benefits from the systemic modelling and the simulation.


Asian monsoon records are widely documented, but specific proxies of monsoonal rainfall are limited. We present here two new independent proxy records from peatland and stalagmite archives that indicate a high degree of concordance between monsoon-driven hydrological changes occurring since the last deglaciation in a broad region of central China. The wet periods elevated the water table in the Dajiuhu peatland, as recorded by reduced mass accumulation rates of hopanoids, biomarkers for aerobic microbes, confirmed by molecular phylogenic analyses. The hopanoid-based reconstruction is supported by the first report of the environmental magnetism parameter ARM/SIRM (anhysteretic remanent magnetization / saturation isothermal remanent magnetization; ratio of fine magnetic particles to total ferrimagnetic particles) in a stalagmite from Heshang Cave in central China. Heavy rainfall resulted in the enhanced transport of coarse particles to the cave and thus low ARM/SIRM values in the stalagmite. The hydrological conditions inferred from the two records reveal three relatively long wet periods in central China: 13–11.5 k.y. ago, 9.5–7.0 k.y. ago, and 3.0–1.5 k.y. ago. Archaeological evidence for the hydrological impacts on regional populations comes from the observation that temporal shifts among six distinctive cultures of the Neolithic Period to the Iron Age in central China occurred during wet periods or flood episodes. Spatiotemporal distributions of >1600 prehistoric settlement sites correlate with the proxy-inferred fluctuating hydrological conditions, with enhanced flooding risk forcing major relocations of human settlements away from riparian zones.


This paper explores the role of social learning in bringing about transformative sustainability processes among individuals and communities. At a time when sustainability is being seriously questioned in terms of what it is and how it can be implemented and evaluated, there are increasing calls to focus instead on sustainability processes. Drawing on 12 months of action-oriented research, including interviews and community-reflection meetings, and with contributions by two co-researchers from the community studied, this paper explores the triple-loop learning process of an ecovillage in Colombia called Atlantida. The findings show that disruptions in the community provided the opportunity for members to enter into a process of deep learning, because they were willing to reflect collectively on their process. This, however, took place in a tough reflective environment in which it was realised that differences in world views, ethics and leadership among members had contributed to the 'death' of the community, while their acknowledgement and acceptance of these differences were contributing to a process of transformative 'rebirth.' We therefore conclude that, when we talk about social learning as a deep transformative process, it is vital to remember that, though it may be necessary, nobody said it was going to be easy.


Trial Design HIV-1 vaccine development has advanced slowly due to viral antigenic diversity, poor immunogenicity and recently, safety concerns associated with human adenovirus serotype-5 vectors. To tackle HIV-1 variation, we designed a unique T-cell immunogen HIVconsv from functionally conserved regions of the HIV-1 proteome, which were presented to the immune system using a heterologous prime-boost combination of plasmid DNA, a non-replicating simian (chimpanzee) adenovirus ChAdV-63 and a non-replicating poxvirus, modified vaccinia virus Ankara. A block-randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled phase I trial HIV-CORE 002 administered for the first time candidate HIV-1- vaccines or placebo to 32 healthy HIV-1/2-uninfected adults in Oxford, UK and elicited high frequencies of HIV-1-specific T cells capable of inhibiting HIV-1 replication in vitro. Here, detail safety and tolerability of these vaccines are reported. Methods Local and systemic reactogenicity data were collected using structured interviews and study-specific diary cards. Data on all other adverse events were collected using open questions. Serum neutralizing antibody titres to ChAdV-63 were determined before and after vaccination. Results Two volunteers withdrew for vaccine-unrelated reasons. No vaccine-related serious adverse events or reactions occurred during 190 person-months of follow-up. Local and systemic events after vaccination occurred in 27/32 individuals and most were mild (severity grade 1) and predominantly transient (<48 hours). Myalgia and flu-like symptoms were more strongly associated with MVA than ChAdV63 or DNA vectors and more common in vaccine recipients than in placebo. There were no intercurrent HIV-1 infections during follow-up. 2/24 volunteers had low ChAdV-63-neutralizing titres at baseline and 7 increased their titres to over 200 with a median (range) of 633 (231-1533) post-vaccination, which is of no safety concern. Conclusions These data demonstrate safety and good tolerability of the pSG2.HIVconsv DNA, ChAdV63.HIVconsv and MVA.HIVconsv vaccines and together with their high immunogenicity support their further development towards efficacy studies. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01151319


Abstract Introduction. The past years have revolutionized the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, with high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR). Furthermore, liver fibrosis has recently been redefined as a dynamic, reversible process. Methods. We performed a prospective cohort study to assess the role of laboratory evaluations and non-invasive measurement of liver stiffness in establishing the right time for starting treatment and in assessing the regression of liver fibrosis in Romanian patients treated with direct acting antivirals (DAA) for genotype 1b chronic hepatitis C. Results. We present the results for 102 patients, with a mean age of 58.5 years, and a rate of SVR of 100%. Our study has ruled out older age (p=0.628), IL28B non-CC genotype (p=0.693), baseline viral load above the cutoff of 600,000 IU/mL (p=0.353), and the presence of diabetes mellitus (p=0.272) or baseline steatosis (p=0.706) as factors potentially influencing the regression of liver fibrosis following DAA treatment of HCV infection with the 3D regimen. The quantitative regression of liver stiffness was inversely correlated with the duration of HCV infection (p=0.017), suggesting that timely treatment might associate better outcomes in terms of liver fibrosis. Conclusion. Our study's results point towards the need to start DAA treatment earlier in patients with HCV infection.


A collection development policy is a significant library document with an intention of building its collections based on some standards and aimed to support the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the parent institution. This paper presents the "The Development of Collection Development Policy" which is largely based from the perceived collection development practices and suggestions of its stakeholders. The survey questionnaire contains statements pertaining to the current practices on collection development of the library such as selection, acquisition, donation, weeding, preservation, loss and replacement, and copyright laws.


The HT-7U superconducting (SC) tokamak will have a long-pulse capability, a flexible poloidal field (PF) system, and auxiliary heating and current drive systems, and it will be able to accommodate divertor heat loads that make it an attractive test for the development of advanced tokamak operating modes. The greatest progress has been made on the engineering design of the HT-7U SC tokamak device, including the calculation and simulation of plasma shaping and control of the PF system as well as calculation and analyses of stress and deformation distribution on the main components caused by dynamic electromagnetic forces, vacuum pressure, temperature differences, etc. Significant research and development progress on the design and the testing of the cable-in-conduit conductor of the toroidal field and PF has been made. A test facility system for the SC magnets of HT-7U has been set up and operated.


Realizing highly available datacenter power infrastructure is an extremely expensive proposition with costs more than doubling as we move from three 9's (Tier-1) to six 9's (Tier-4) of availability. Existing approaches only consider the cost/availability trade-off for a restricted set of power infrastructure configurations, relying mainly on component redundancy. A number of additional knobs such as centralized vs. distributed component placement and power-feed interconnect topology also exist, whose impact has only been studied in limited forms. In this paper, we develop detailed datacenter availability models using Continuous-time Markov Chains and Reliability Block Diagrams to quantify the cost-availability trade-off offered by these power infrastructure knobs.


Objectives The objective of this review is to propose an appropriate course of action for improving the guidelines followed by food handlers for control of infection. For this purpose, previous epidemiological reports related to acute gastroenteritis in food service businesses mediated by food handlers were intensively analyzed. Methods Relevant studies were identified in international databases. We selected eligible papers reporting foodborne infectious disease outbreaks. Among primary literature collection, the abstract of each article was investigated to find cases that absolutely identified a causative factor to be food handlers' inappropriate infection control and the taxon of causative microbial agents by epidemiological methodologies. Information about the sites (type of food business) where the outbreaks occurred was investigated. Results A wide variety of causative microbial agents has been investigated, using several epidemiological methods. These agents have shown diverse propagation pathways based on their own molecular pathogenesis, physiology, taxonomy, and etiology. Conclusion Depending on etiology, transmission, propagation, and microbiological traits, we can predict the transmission characteristics of pathogens in food preparation areas. The infected food workers have a somewhat different ecological place in infection epidemiology as compared to the general population. However, the current Korean Food Safety Act cannot propose detailed guidelines. Therefore, different methodologies have to be made available to prevent further infections.


Multiple myeloma (MM), a B cell malignancy characterized by clonal proliferation of plasma cells in the bone marrow, remains incurable despite the use of novel and conventional therapies. In this study, we demonstrated MM cell cytotoxicity triggered by realgar (REA; As4S4) nanoparticles (NREA) versus Arsenic trioxide (ATO) against MM cell lines and patient cells. Both NREA and ATO showed in vivo anti‐MM activity, resulting in significantly decreased tumour burden. The anti‐MM activity of NREA and ATO is associated with apoptosis, evidenced by DNA fragmentation, depletion of mitochondrial membrane potential, cleavage of caspases and anti‐apoptotic proteins. NREA induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and modulation of cyclin B1, p53 (TP53), p21 (CDKN1A), Puma (BBC3) and Wee‐1 (WEE1). Moreover, NREA induced modulation of key regulatory molecules in MM pathogenesis including JNK activation, c‐Myc (MYC), BRD4, and histones. Importantly, NREA, but not ATO, significantly depleted the proportion and clonogenicity of the MM stem‐like side population, even in the context of the bone marrow stromal cells. Finally, our study showed that both NREA and ATO triggered synergistic anti‐MM activity when combined with lenalidomide or melphalan. Taken together, the anti‐MM activity of NREA was more potent compared to ATO, providing the preclinical framework for clinical trials to improve patient outcome in MM.


The aim of the present positron emission tomography (PET) study was to investigate how visual processing in dorsal and ventral streams depends on the quantitative nature of the task. In the samedifferent task, participants identified the presence of an orientation difference between two gratings, presented centrally in succession. In the quantification task, participants estimated the magnitude of the difference and compared it to a fixed standard. Detection of dimming of the fixation point was used as a control task. Visual input, motor responses, and performance were equated across tasks. Subtracting same different from quantification yielded significant activation in the left superior parietal lobule and left ventral premotor cortex, consistent with results obtained in number-processing tasks. The reverse subtraction yielded activation in the right inferior temporal gyrus, in agreement with earlier results. These results demonstrate that a single attribute can be processed either in the ventral or dorsal stream, depending on the cognitive operations required by the tasks.


Identifying the primary site in cases of metastatic carcinoma of unknown origin has profound clinical importance in managing cancer patients. Although transcriptional profiling promises molecular solutions to this clinical challenge, simpler and more reliable methods for this purpose are needed. A training set of 11 serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) libraries was analyzed using a combination of supervised and unsupervised computational methods to select a small group of candidate genes with maximal power to discriminate carcinomas of different tissue origins. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure their expression levels in an independent validation set of 62 samples of ovarian, breast, colon, and pancreatic adenocarcinomas and normal ovarian surface epithelial controls. The diagnostic power of this set of genes was evaluated using unsupervised cluster analysis methods. From the training set of 21,321 unique SAGE transcript tags derived from 11 libraries, five genes were identified with expression patterns that distinguished four types of adenocarcinomas. Quantitative real-time PCR expression data obtained from the validation set clustered tumor samples in an unsupervised manner, generating a self-organized map with distinctive tumor site-specific domains. Eighty-one percent (50 of 62) of the carcinomas were correctly allocated in their corresponding diagnostic regions. Metastases clustered tightly with their corresponding primary tumors. A classification map diagnostic of tumor types was generated based on expression patterns of five genes selected from the SAGE database. This expression map analysis may provide a reliable and practical approach to determine tumor type in cases of metastatic carcinoma of clinically unknown origin.


We analyze the influence of different objects on the sensitivity of using a 4f imaging system for nonlinear optical measurements. By defining the diffraction efficiency as the physical quantity to measure, it is possible to perform different measuring methods (Z-scan, eclipsing Z-scan, I-scan, degenerate four-wave mixing) by matching the field stop in the image plane with the object at the entry. One, two, three, and four waves mixing are considered in order to compare their related sensitivities. We provide simple quadratic relations for each object that allow the characterization of the cubic optical nonlinearity. A systematic comparison is done showing that one circular aperture object gives the highest sensitivity. The experimental measurements are performed in order to validate our simulation.


We report the first experimental observation, to our knowledge, of phase-controlled three-wave interactions between two spatial solitons in a bulk quadratic nonlinear crystal. We demonstrate that the nature of the interaction can be attractive or repulsive, depending on the phase relationships between the input beams at the fundamental frequency and their power imbalance. Full control of the interaction is achieved by the adjustment of the relative phases and/or the orientation of the input waves, leading to scattering, fusion, spiraling, and power-exchange phenomena. Experimental observations are in good qualitative agreement with the corresponding theoretical and numerical results.


Nearly one third of the U.S. population is between ages 50 and 79 meaning that they are nearing or currently in the early years of retirement. Individuals tend to seek financial planning advice as they plan for retirement. The baby boomer generation that is currently retiring worked when defined benefit pension plans were the most commonly offered company-sponsored retirement plan. 78 percent of state and local government workers were participating in a defined benefit pension plan and 49 percent of private companies with 500 or more workers offered defined benefit pensions (Rafter, 2013). A defined benefit pension plan is a type of retirement account where an employer agrees to a pre-specified payment amount to an employee at retirement. The payment of the defined benefit pension plan can be distributed in various ways. The retiree may take a lump sum, a partial lump sum and 50% joint survivor annuity, a single life annuity, or a 50% joint and survivor annuity. Defined benefit pensions will distribute as a 50% joint and survivor annuity by default. Existing research discusses trends in retirement and various investment techniques retirees should consider but there is no analysis on how defined benefit pension distribution methods may affect an individual's financial independence. Financial independence is achieved when an individual has enough liquid assets to support his or her standard of living and cash needs through the end of his or her life. This thesis conducts a case study on a hypothetical married couple, John and Jane Doe, and uses financial plan scenarios to understand the effects defined benefit pension distribution methods have on an individual's financial independence. 1 Any financial term used throughout this thesis is bolded and a definition is provided in Appendix A on page 28


Several clinicopathologic studies of primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (Med-DLBCL) have been reported from Western countries; however, only a few series of at most 10 cases are available in Japan.To further clarify the Med-DLBCL occurring in Japan, we analyzed the clinical features of 28 patients with Med-DLBCL diagnoses who were treated at the National Cancer Center Hospital between 1982 and 2002. The median age was 37 years (range, 18–80 years). The ages of 16 male patients ranged widely from 18 to 80 years, whereas the 12 female patients appeared to show a single age peak at 20 to 40 years. Only 13 patients (46%) achieved a complete response with initial treatments, mostly by CHOP-like regimens (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine [Oncovin], and prednisolone) followed by radiotherapy.The estimated 3-year overall and failure-free survival rates were 32% and 33%, respectively, indicating the relatively unfavorable prognosis of the patients in our series.The following factors were found to be significantly associated with shortened survival prospects: age >60 years, serum lactate dehydrogenase level greater than normal, performance status >1, and presence of bulky mediastinal mass. In conclusion, the clinical features of Japanese patients with Med-DLBCL may be different from those with the disease in Western countries. Because this investigation was a single-institution study with a limited number of patients, however, multicenter confirmatory studies are needed.


BACKGROUND
Although randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are considered 'gold standard' evidence, they are not always feasible or appropriate, and may represent a select population. Observational studies provide a useful alternative to enhance applicability, but results can be biased due to confounding.

AIM
To explore the utility of propensity scores for causal inference in an observational study.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Comparison of the effect of amoxicillin on key outcomes in an international RCT and observational study of lower respiratory tract infections.

METHOD
Propensity scores were calculated and applied as probability weights in the analyses. The adjusted results were compared with the effects reported in the RCT.

RESULTS
Groups were well balanced in the RCT but significantly imbalanced in the observational study, with evidence of confounding by indication: patients receiving antibiotics tended to be older and more unwell at baseline consultation. In the trial duration of symptoms (hazard ratio 1.06, 95% CI = 0.96 to 1.18) and symptom severity (-0.07, 95% CI = -0.15 to 0.007) did not differ between groups. Weighting by propensity score in the observational study resulted in very similar estimates of effect: duration of symptoms (hazard ratio 1.06, 95% CI = 0.80 to 1.40) and difference for symptom severity (-0.07, 95% CI = -0.34 to 0.20).

CONCLUSION
The observational study, after conditioning on propensity score, echoed the trial results. Provided that detailed information is available on potential sources of confounding, effects of interventions can probably be assessed reasonably well in observational datasets, allowing them to be more directly compared with the results of RCTs.